


Endeavor

by GaleandRandy



Category: Queer as Folk (US)
Genre: Completed Fiction, M/M, Queer Themes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-05-14
Updated: 2010-10-21
Packaged: 2017-10-09 10:58:37
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 84,776
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/86538
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GaleandRandy/pseuds/GaleandRandy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><b>Summary:</b><i> No endeavor that is worthwhile is simple in prospect; if it is right, it will be simple in retrospect. -Edward Teller</i>(Alternate Universe with canon characterization and many other canon influences.) Brian and Justin meet while Brian is interviewing him for a position in his ad agency, "Exhibition". <a href="http://galeandrandy.livejournal.com/153844.html">View More Detailed Summary if you wish here</a><br/><b>THIS STORY IS COMPLETE ALL 15 CHAPTERS ARE HERE EVEN IF THIS SAYS THAT IT ISN'T USE INDEX TO SEE EPILOGUE aka ch.15</b></p>
            </blockquote>





	1. January

**Author's Note:**

> Reinventlove_XO @ livejournal created art for this story. Please make sure you view it really shouldn't be missed. [View it Here at her journal](http://reinventlove-xo.livejournal.com/63429.html)
> 
> This story is dedicated to Mira. Thank you to my beta sunshinyday5762 and to my artist reinventlove_xo.

[ ](http://galeandrandy.livejournal.com/153868.html)

**January**

_"Work is the refuge of people who have nothing better to do"-Oscar Wilde_

Brian stood from his chair and cautiously shook hands with the woman who stood in front of his desk. "Thank you for coming in, Theresa."

"Oh," the woman giggled, "it was my pleasure." She winked one of her large brown eyes at Brian and squeezed his hand a hair too tightly.

"Unfortunately, I don't think you'll be right for the job," Brian informed her, extracting his hand from the woman's grasp.

"You don't?" Theresa asked. "But… you said that I had great qualifications."

"You do," Brian agreed. "But I don't think you are right for Exhibition."

Theresa tore her watery gaze from Brian's hard stare. "I can't believe this!" she roared, stalking toward the office door in her six inch heels. "You've wasted my time!" she cried, throwing open the door.

Cynthia stood from her chair and gave Brian a smile before running after the woman. "I'll walk you out," she called after her, disappearing into the hallway.

Brian sat back down in his leather chair and flipped to the next candidate on the list Cynthia had given him. He grabbed the folder with the corresponding name and looked over the resume once again. Of all the candidates, this person was the most qualified for the job in terms of education and skill. However, with the exception of a few internships, true on-the-job experience was nil. Brian also noticed that he'd finished school the previous May and wondered why he hadn't gotten a job within the last seven months.

"That woman thought she was God's gift," Cynthia said, walking back into Brian's office.

Brian shrugged. "You think she'd be thanking me for being honest and allowing her to continue her job search."

"You're a martyr," Cynthia joked, sitting back down in her chair.

Brian grinned and replied, "I know."

Cynthia rolled her eyes; though she was in complete agreement with how Brian handled every candidate he'd so far turned down. "So, Karen said the next appointment has arrived and is waiting in the lobby. Is that his folder you're looking at?"

"Yeah." Brian slid the resume over to Cynthia and flipped through the small portfolio that provided samples of the candidate's work.

"He's young."

"But talented," Brian said, handing Cynthia the portfolio.

"And did you see his reference page?" Cynthia gasped, flipping through the four typed pages.

"I glanced at it." Brian waved her off.

"This is the guy Lindsay told me to tell you to hire."

"Since when do you work for her?" Brian quipped.

Cynthia slapped Brian's arm. "Since when do I work for you? We own this company 50/50."

Brian sighed. "Details, details."

"Anyway, this is the guy who sometimes babysits for Gus and Jenny. Lindsay told me that she suggested for him to apply here."

"So you put his resume in with the rest of these because Lindsay told you to?"

"Do you want me to storm out of here and leave you to do the hiring alone?" Cynthia warned.

"Do you think he's qualified for the job or is he a candidate because we're doing Lindsay a favor?"

Cynthia leveled Brian with a piercing glare. "Again, do you want me to storm out of here?"

Brian laughed and took the resume from Cynthia's outstretched hand. "Keep your panties on. I'm just tired of doing these interviews and getting nowhere. This isn't how I wanted to start the new year."

"So what you're saying is that you're cranky and hung over."

"What I'm saying is, next year when I think it's a good idea to schedule anything more than a lunch on the 2nd, be sure to remind me of this hellish day."

Cynthia rubbed her temples and agreed, "I will. Believe me, I will."

"All right, the sooner we see this kid, the sooner we can get on to the next and get this day over with. Have Karen send him in."

Cynthia grabbed her notepad from Brian's desk and leaned back in her chair. "You realize you're the one with the phone in front of you, right?"

Brian stuck his tongue out and pressed the page button for his secretary.

"What can I do for you, Mr. Kinney?" the secretary asked.

"Send in our next appointment please, Karen."

"I'll walk him down, Mr. Kinney," Karen spoke before hanging up.

Brian scowled. "Hopefully we'll have a candidate that doesn't hit on me."

"Or me," Cynthia added.

"Knowing the GLC and art geeks Lindsay surrounds herself with; he's probably some homely introvert whose only means of expression is through his art." Brian laughed at his assessment.

"Or a straight man who has only seen a real life woman's naked body in Life Class," Cynthia added in a horrified tone.

A soft knock rapped on Brian's office door.

"I guess we'll see who is right," Cynthia said, straightening her posture.

"Come in," Brian called.

§ § § § §

Karen had walked Justin down a long hall, pointed to a door at the end and left him to see himself into Mr. Kinney's office. As he stepped toward it, he'd heard exactly what the two people behind it were saying about him. If he hadn't wanted to work for the best ad agency in Pittsburgh, he wouldn't have applied to work for Brian Kinney. There was a new scandalous sex story to hear from the gay grapevine involving the man almost daily and Melanie's distaste for him added to the reluctance Justin felt when he submitted his resume to Exhibition. It was no surprise to him that instead of criticizing his lack of professional experience, Brian Kinney and a woman, who he guessed was the man's partner in the agency named Cynthia Prescott, were instead talking about his physical attributes.

After knocking and hearing Mr. Kinney give him permission to enter, Justin lifted his head high, plastered on the brightest smile he'd ever given anyone and sashayed into the office. He knew how to make an entrance and knew that it was very important for him to be completely desirable to Mr. Kinney from the moment the man's eyes landed on him. His goal was to get Brian and Cynthia to practically beg for him to work for Exhibition.

"Ju… Justin Taylor?" Brian asked, rising from his chair.

Justin held back his laughter in reaction to the stunned look on the man's face. "Yes, nice to meet you, Mr. Kinney."

§ § § § §

Brian closed the folder on his lap and lifted his head to meet Justin's eyes. "CMU's School of Art only accepts ten students each year into their MFA program. After looking through your portfolios and academics I can understand why they would consider you."

"Thank you, but act…"

"But I want you to tell me what it is about you that caught their attention," Brian interrupted. "Why were you better than the other applicants?"

"Actually, they only accept six students," Justin corrected, receiving a curt smile from Brian. "I'm not sure how to answer your question without sounding egotistical."

"Don't worry about that," Cynthia encouraged. "If I minded egotistical men I wouldn't have started an ad agency with Brian and if he minded them he wouldn't…"

"Thank you, Cynthia," Brian cut in. "Just answer the question however you feel is best." He leaned back in his chair and continued to stare at Justin with more than the usual interest he showed in his prospective employees.

Justin was determined not to get nervous. Brian and Cynthia had been making him jump through hoops; their questions were all over the place and intended to throw him off his game. However, they hadn't. He was still in control, still garnering their interest and he'd answer this question which as much ease as he'd answered the others. "As soon as I entered into the BSCA program my freshmen year, I began preparing to be one of the students selected for the MFA program. I arrived to class early, never missed a day, turned in every assignment before the due date, performed whatever task my professor asked of me and always asked for…"

"You kissed major ass, you were a brownnoser," Brian laughed as he interrupted Justin.

Justin shrugged. "I knew that I had to get myself noticed, not only with my art but also my personality and work skills. I took off-curriculum courses during the summer, volunteered to help with set designs for the plays and tutored other art students, anything to show my dedication to Carnegie Mellon. I showed them that I was the best candidate, that even if there were only one spot open, it should go to me."

"That's very impressive," Cynthia commented, a little bit in awe of the young man.

"But it still doesn't answer my question," Brian quipped. "I'm sure all of the other applicants did the same things, or are you calling yourself a grade A ass kisser?"

Justin laughed and lifted his chin defiantly. "Actually, I can assure you that many of my accomplishments were rare amongst the CMU students. I suppose you could declare me a grade A ass kisser. Working hard to meet my goals while pleasing those in a position to decide a big part of my future is something I am proud of. That being said, I'm not a pushover. I didn't get into the MFA program because of ass kissing alone; I have raw and skilled talent to go along with my ass kissing. Truthfully, I'm the total package. I had and still do have everything going for me."

Cynthia bit her tongue as she looked over at Brian and saw how annoyed he looked. She forced herself not to smile, even though she really wanted to because it wasn't every day that Brian Kinney was thrown off his game. She and Brian's interview strategy had failed, depending on how you looked at it.

Justin Taylor was intelligent, witty, creative and as honest as Brian. There wasn't one single bad thing to write about him on her notepad. Though her attitude wasn't nearly as pessimistic as Brian's, this still surprised her because she thought that there had to be some reason to not hire Justin. But there wasn't. He'd passed their test with flying colors and turned the job interview into a gallery showing or something close to it.

She and Brian had been wrong about Justin's lack of experience. Neither had bothered to completely read through all the details in the resume. Justin had informed them that the internship positions he'd held went far beyond printing copies and fetching coffee. He interned as the Student Art Director for CMU and in his third and final year in the MFA program Justin had been an understudy to the University's most highly honored Fine Arts Professor. Upon closer inspection of the recommendations, Professor Greer had written that Justin had practically taught his Fundamental Art class the last year. She'd never felt so unprepared while giving an interview and knew Brian felt the same way but was trying not to show it.

"You do?" Brian dared to ask.

"Of course and you know that I do. Otherwise, this interview would've been over as quickly as the last two were." Justin leaned forward and put his hands on Brian's desktop as he stared him down. "So, are you going to admit that I am exactly what you have been looking for?" He looked at Cynthia and asked, "Am I Exhibition's new Art Director?"

"Yes."

"No."

Justin laughed but covered his mouth as Brian and Cynthia agreed upon glaring at him.

§ § § § §

Justin followed Brian out of the Art Department. "Can I ask why you said no?"

"Didn't you just ask?"

"Yes. So why?"

Brian stopped in front of the first office door down the hallway where his office was located. He handed Justin the key to the Art Director's office. "Here."

"Thanks?" Justin guessed that he was expected to open the door himself.

Brian impatiently waited for Justin to open the door. "If you want to get rid of the orange paint feel free to do so, but on your own time."

Justin was in complete shock as he looked around the huge office. It was almost the same size as Brian's. "I don't mind the orange."

"Cade, our previous Art Director, was obsessed with orange. I had to get rid of all the furniture, so this is all new."

"His furniture was orange too?" Justin asked, slowly walking around the spacious room.

"The curtains too," Brian said. "It's amazing I didn't fire him for decorating his place to look like a fucking creamsicle."

Justin ran his hand over the raised sketch table, gave Brian an uneasy look and asked, "Why did you fire him?"

"I guess you'll hear it from the staff soon so I guess I should tell you. Otherwise you'll probably get some dramatized truth."

Justin looked out the largest window and drew a smiley face in the frost. "So they're gossipers?" he grumbled.

"There is nothing the Art Department likes more than juicy gossip. You'll learn that once you put them in their place and they go from tolerating you to respecting you."

Justin laughed. "They looked at me like they wanted to claw my eyes out."

"Can you blame them? They've been working here almost as long as you were going to school and you don't look a day over eighteen."

Justin bristled and faced Brian. "That's ridiculous. I look at least twenty one."

Brian smirked. "That doesn't really make a difference."

"Well, I'm not going to apologize for choosing the right path for my education and career. As for my looks, I won't apologize for being gorgeous." Justin gave Brian a flirtatious smile. "I doubt you do."

Brian coughed away the spark inside his chest. "No, I don't."

Justin had undressed Brian approximately four and a half times since he'd met him and was trying his best not to do it once again. He turned away and pretended to check out the closet as he asked, "So what was the reason you fired Cade?"

Brian had to replay Justin's question in his head to have it make sense. He'd been staring at his perfect ass as he walked away from him and his cock was demanding that it have more blood flow than his brain. "He was caught fucking his boyfriend across the desk."

Justin turned to face Brian again. "You said the desk is new, right?"

Brian nodded and sat down on the edge of the expensive looking piece of furniture. "Yeah, it is."

Justin swallowed down thoughts of fucking Brian across his new desk and asked, "So did you catch them?"

"Cynthia did," Brian explained. "It wasn't even the fact that he was fucking his boyfriend at work. He was late for a staff meeting and didn't answer any of Karen's pages or calls. It wasn't the first time he'd been late to a meeting after having lunch with his boyfriend in the office. He was careless; he didn't even lock the fucking door."

"That is pretty stupid," Justin said. "You don't have to worry. I won't be fucking my boyfriend at work and he definitely won't be making me late for anything."

Brian blinked quickly. "You have a boyfriend?"

Justin shrugged. "I guess you could call him my partner, but we don't live together."

"Interesting. I didn't peg you to be a hetero-wannabe."

"I'm far from it," Justin replied, unperturbed. "Eric and I have a very open relationship."

Brian smirked at that. "So you haven't been together very long then?"

"Actually we've been together for about seven years."

"And you don't live together?"

"I told you, we have an open relationship."

"How convenient."

§ § § § §

"Hey!"

Eric looked up from his desk and smiled as Justin closed the door and walked further into the empty classroom. "This is a nice surprise."

"I was in the neighborhood," Justin joked.

Eric stood and gave Justin a quick hug and kiss.

"That was awfully risky," Justin warned.

"The door is closed and it's not like they have cameras in the classrooms." Eric sat on the edge of his desk and crossed his arms over his chest. "So, what are you doing here?"

Justin's mind flashed to the thoughts he'd had earlier of fucking Brian Kinney across his new desk and cleared his throat. "I wanted to share my good news. I'm now employed!"

"You got a job?" Eric asked.

Justin proudly smiled. "Yup."

"Where at?"

"Exhibition Advertising."

Eric grimaced. "So you decided to put your resume in there after all?"

"I knew I'd get the job if I did."

"I knew you would too, but I thought you didn't want to work for that guy."

Justin frowned. "What he does in his personal life has nothing to do with work. Same with me. It's not like you tell your students that you're gay."

"True," Eric agreed. "But you held off putting in a resume there for months; I didn't know that you'd changed your mind. I thought you were taking a year off before you looked for anything that wasn't freelance."

"I've had enough of a break. It was far past time that I stopped living off my inheritance since I got my MFA last May. I don't know what I was thinking when I said I'd take a year off. Normal people don't waste a year of their lives."

"You weren't wasting your life, Justin. You did some freelance work and you were helping your Mom do something she's wanted to do since your dad died."

"And the renovations to her house are finished and she's since sold the house and has been living in her new home with Tucker for a month." Justin didn't want to talk about anything that had to do with his father or Tucker today. "Lindsay was right. The opportunity to work as the Art Director for the top advertising agency in Pittsburgh wouldn't be there in a few months."

"So is he as bad as the rumors say he is?" Eric queried.

Justin refused to answer that question because he felt uneasy talking about his boss with Eric, though he couldn't pinpoint exactly why that was. "So when can you get out of here? I want to celebrate!"

Eric twisted around and grabbed a large stack of papers. "I have about a hundred poems to read, half of which I'm sure will make my eyes bleed. Wanna help me grade them?"

"Maybe, if you get me liquored up first," Justin bargained seriously.

"It's a deal," Eric replied, getting up from the desk and gathering up his things. "Only one bottle of wine though, otherwise I won't want to get up for school tomorrow."

"You can call in and get a sub," Justin suggested.

"That doesn't sound like a bad idea," Eric remarked. "The freshmen were reading chapter eight of "Lord of the Flies" today. When we got to the part where Jack is naked except for war paint and a belt, they were all giggling like second graders."

Justin reached out and playfully petted Eric's soft brown hair. "My poor man. Why you decided to teach high school kids, I'll never understand."

"I could say the same for you about your choice of employment," Eric teased, closing his briefcase.

"Yes, but I can at least excuse myself by admitting that I'm attracted to the **huge** salary, health benefits and prestige."

Eric kissed Justin's cheek quickly before opening the classroom door and ushering his boyfriend out into the hall. "You're very bad, Justin."

Justin whispered, "Well, Mr. Rockford, maybe you should take me home and show me how good boys act. I like watching you as you try to behave."

Eric really wished there weren't cameras in the hallway because he wanted to push Justin against the lockers and kiss the naughty tone right out of him. "Why don't I ever get to be the teacher?" Eric asked quietly.

Justin pulled on Eric's tie for a moment before replying, "Don't mess with what works, Mr. Rockford. You get to play teacher all day, at night, it's my job."

§ § § § §

"Brian, what are you doing here?" Lindsay asked, ushering him inside.

Brian ignored her question and asked one of his own, "How come you didn't tell _me_ that you were sending one of your art geeks to me?"

"What? You didn't hire him."

"Of course I did. You knew I would."

Lindsay smiled. "Justin is talented, smart and he's great with our son. He watches him from time to time and Gus loves him. Ask him, he'll give you another reference, though I doubt Justin needs it."

As if on cue, Gus came running out of his room. "Dad!" he yelled, rounding the banister and taking the stairs two at a time. "Guess what?"

"You grew another inch?" Brian asked, accepting a hug.

"No," Gus said, rolling his eyes. "Next Wednesday is career day and we get to bring one of our parents to school."

"Well, I'd choose your Mom if I were you. It's much cooler to bring an art teacher to school than a lawyer. She'd bore them all to death."

"Brian!" Lindsay elbowed him in the side. "Melanie's job isn't boring."

"Yeah, it is," Gus said, beating Brian to saying it.

Brian laughed. "Speaking of the devil dyke, where is she?"

"Brian!" This time Lindsay punched Brian's shoulder. "Melanie is at work."

Gus giggled but stopped when his mother gave him a stern glare. "Don't worry," Gus told her. "I know Dad and Mama are only joking when they say bad things like that. They really love each other."

"Actually…" Brian's words were cut off as Lindsay clamped her hand over his mouth.

"Are you going to behave?" Lindsay asked, half smiling. Brian nodded and Lindsay removed her hand. "I can't go because I have to teach too, I can't go to Gus' school," she explained. "So…"

Brian's eyes widened. "No way."

"Aww… Dad!" Gus pouted, looking up at his father. "You never come to parent meetings."

"That's because…." Brian stopped himself from saying that he wasn't Gus' parent. "It's because you have two parents that are better at the school stuff than I am."

"But you're the one I want to come. Even if Mom could've I wanted you to bring. I told everyone at school that you made the Chocolate Grill commercial and they want to meet you!"

Brian grimaced as he thought of that commercial. The 'grill' was a line of candy molded into different sets of false teeth. It was one of the worst products Brian could ever remember selling. However, the profit he made from Hick's Candies made up for the embarrassment. "I suppose your friends will be expecting me to bring some of those with me?" Brian asked. He really didn't want to go but he figured the appearance would get him out of the next open house or carnival they had at Gus' school.

Gus jumped up and down. "That'd be awesome!"

"I'm sure your teacher will love that," Lindsay offered.

"Well they can't have them until I leave," Brian told Gus.

"That's okay. Thanks, Dad."

Brian jokingly replied in a happy-go-lucky tone, "You're welcome, Son."

Gus' eyebrows knit together. "You're weird."

"Yeah. I know."

"Go finish your homework," Lindsay said. "Or you're not getting any of the ice cream Mama's bringing home."

"Okay, okay," Gus sulked and kissed Brian before running back upstairs.

"So Mel's grocery shopping?" Brian guessed. "You never answered me earlier."

"She took Jenny with her. We didn't have anything to make for dinner," Lindsay said, walking with Brian into the kitchen. "Do you want some coffee?" she asked, pouring herself a cup.

"No. I want you to tell me about Justin."

"I already did and I'm sure you grilled him during his interview. You know all you need to, Brian."

"Do you know his boyfriend?" Brian couldn't believe he'd actually asked that question. From the look on Lindsay's face she was surprised too, but then she started to frown at him.

"I've met him a few times, yes. We don't teach at the same high school if that's what you're wondering."

"Oh, he's a teacher. How cute."

"Brian, you can't fuck your employee."

"You never told me why you told Cynthia about him and not me," Brian said, changing the subject.

"Because if I would've mentioned it to you beforehand you probably wouldn't have even given him an interview. Justin isn't as flaky as some of my other friends, Brian. Actually, he isn't flaky at all."

"So why say anything to Cynthia?"

"I happened to mention it to her at Exhibition's New Year's party, that's all. It wasn't some elaborate plan to use my 'connections' to get him hired. I knew his resume would get him the interview and he'd get hired all on his own, but I didn't want you to find out later that we're friends and that I suggested the job to him. Then, you really would've been thinking I'd planned the thing. Even if I did, what does it matter? He's great at what he does and you're lucky to have him work for you."

Brian grumbled as he saw headlights bounce off the garage through the kitchen window. "I guess that's my cue to leave. What time am I supposed to go to Gus' school next week?"

Lindsay walked with Brian to the foyer and gave him a tight hug. "Gus brought home a paper about it but I don't want to disturb him while he's doing his homework. I'll call and let you know tomorrow, okay?"

"Sounds good," Brian replied, opening the door to find Melanie holding Jenny with one arm and a bag of groceries in the other.

"Don't just stand there, Brian," Melanie panted. "Come grab the kid, she's asleep."

Brian sighed. "I'm still in my Armani, she'd better not spit up on me," he warned.

"She's almost four years old, Brian. She doesn't spit up," Lindsay laughed, breezing past them as Brian took Jenny in his arms. "I'll go get the rest of the groceries."

"And leave me alone with him?" Melanie whined.

Brian laughed quietly as he brought Jenny into the living room and placed her on the sofa. He was in the process of taking off her boots when her eyes opened and she immediately smiled at him. "Uncle Brian?" she asked dreamily, her smile broadening.

"Yeah, it's me." Brian grinned back, pleased that Jenny liked him so much because he loved how much it pissed Melanie off.

§ § § § §

"Don't you think we should ask Mr. Kinney before changing…"

"Anna, _I_ am the Art Director. It's my job to make this decision. The only reason I'd ask Mr. Kinney about something first was if I was changing something he specifically asked to see in the mock up. When I bring him the final board for approval, if he doesn't like the change at that point we will change it," Justin told the woman.

Anna tilted her chin in the air, turned on her toes and hurried back to her desk.

Justin turned his attention to the rest of the employees in the art department. "If anyone has any other questions regarding my authority, please come see me in my office and we'll discuss it in private there. If you don't know where my office is, the plate on the door with my name and the words "Art Director" underneath it should give you a clue."

Two weeks working at Exhibition and his staff was still acting as though he didn't know what the fuck he was talking about! It was getting old, really fucking old. Justin was going to start handing out pink slips and hiring a whole new team if they didn't cut their shit soon. He walked out of the art department and headed for his office, planning on grabbing his pack of smokes and heading outside for a quick cigarette.

His plans were put on hold when he entered his office and saw Brian sitting in one of the swivel black chairs in front of his desk. "Good afternoon, Mr. Kinney," he greeted warmly, walking around to his desk chair.

Brian laughed at Justin. "Cut the shit. You're not my secretary, you don't have to greet me like I'm your…"

"Boss?" Justin filled in, chuckling. "Did you need something?"

"Well, you said that if anyone had any questions regarding your authority we should speak to you privately in your office."

Justin's face reddened and he covered his face. "You heard that?" he asked behind his hands.

Brian grinned. "Yeah, the whole office did."

"Shoot." Justin cautiously took his hands away from his face. "Sorry."

"Just remember that the next time you plan on bitching them out to close the door. It's soundproofed glass all around so you can then yell as loud as you would like. I know I do."

Justin was relieved that Brian was amused by his rant. "Did you really want to talk to me about that authority stuff?"

Brian shook his head. "Nah, though if you feel the need to write some of them up and look for new-hires yourself, you know you can. Cade is the one who hired almost every one of the art staff so if they feel some fucked up sense of loyalty to him, feel free to start firing them if they don't behave like adults."

"I really don't want to," Justin groaned. "But you'd think that after seeing how happy you are with what we've put out, by my designs, they'd respect me. You are happy with my work, Mr. Kinney?"

"Believe me, you'd know it if I wasn't," Brian replied. "And please, when we're alone or with Ted or Cynthia, you can call me Brian."

"Noted," Justin said, smiling.

"I'm about to take my lunch. Do you want to come with me?" Brian asked.

"Where are you going to eat?" Justin asked. "Not that I'm picky."

Brian thought that Justin had to have a special diet of food that deposited itself directly in his ass and wanted to ask him if he did, but knew that remark would qualify for sexual harassment. "Actually, we've taken on Vincent's as clients. Have you eaten there before?"

"No," Justin said, his mouth watering. "I've always wanted to. I hear their food is great but I couldn't ever justify spending thirty dollars for a plate of pasta."

"Apparently neither can the general population, which is why they've come to Exhibition. I'm going to have to think of a brilliant way to make people think that spending that kind of money on pasta is perfectly acceptable in this economy. You don't have to worry about the bill today; your lunch can be considered research. It's a business expense."

Justin grinned and stood from his chair. "I'm in. Though don't we have a research department?"

"As the owner of Exhibition and you as the Art Director, we should be well versed in all the departments and their duties." Brian grinned as he stood from his chair and started for the door. "Do you have a car?" he asked.

"I do, but I'm having it detailed today. I took the bus." Justin replied.

"Well, then you'll have to ride with me," Brian said, pausing in the doorway. "Meet me out front in a few minutes; I've got to grab my briefcase and coat."

"All right," Justin replied, shutting the door behind him.

He didn't watch Brian's long lean body walk down the hall to his own office until he disappeared inside and closed his door behind him. His cock didn't get hard and his mouth didn't water and his skin didn't tingle. It didn't, because he was already headed for the front door and facing the opposite direction. Or so he told himself as he walked out into the crisp, freezing air and thanked the cold for having a certain effect on the area below his belly button.

§ § § § §

"I feel like we're food critics," Justin said excitedly, practically bouncing in his seat.

Brian shuddered. "There's no way I can try even one bite of everything here. I'll have to call in fat to work tomorrow." Mr. Vincent wanted them to choose their favorite dishes and be inspired by them while developing the campaign.

Justin rubbed his hands together as he tried to decide what he'd try first. "Tomorrow is Saturday; you can sleep it off."

"I don't think we'll be making it back to work," Brian warned. "I should call Karen and let her know we'll be out for the rest of the day."

"You're serious?" Justin asked, laughing at Brian's dramatic act.

Brian nodded. "We'll be in food comas soon."

Justin wasn't going to stop his boss from allowing them both the opportunity to play hookie for the rest of the day. "I look forward to the food coma, then."

Brian got out his cell phone and called Karen while Justin tasted the rigatoni, moaning as he chewed. The noise distracted Brian and after Karen hung up it took him hearing the dial tone in his ear before he did the same. "I should've at least smoked a joint first because then I wouldn't have cared." He watched Justin's expression, gauging his reaction to the admission that he smoked pot.

"You have some?" Justin asked quietly, even though they were alone in the private section normally reserved for large parties.

"Sadly, no. I don't usually travel with it to work."

Justin pouted. "I haven't smoked in ages. My boyfriend's a teacher so he always gets all paranoid. He thinks I'll be arrested while buying it and it'll come back on him somehow."

"That's ridiculous." Brian made a decision and stuck a fork in the spinach lasagna. "So he's probably not out at work either, right?"

"No," Justin said, going for the seafood ravioli with his fork. "But that's the only place he's in the closet. I couldn't date anyone that isn't out. I don't want a flaming queen or anything, but you know what I mean, right?"

Brian rolled his eyes. "Not in the slightest. I know you know my reputation, Justin. Every gay man in Pittsburgh seems to."

Justin chewed the delicious food carefully and marked his rating for the dish on Brian's notepad. "Right, I do. But are you telling me you've never dated anyone?"

"What's the point?" Brian asked. "I don't need to be in a relationship to get my needs met."

"The point is…" Justin thought for a moment but words failed him.

Brian laughed. "You don't even know why you're with your boyfriend, do you?"

"I guess it's just one of those indescribable things," Justin retorted. "But you wouldn't understand that since you've never actually tried to be in a relationship."

"Whatever," Brian dismissed Justin. "So how did the ravioli taste?"

"Delicious, but I think there was too much shrimp in it. It overpowered everything else."

"I thought that when I ordered it," Brian admitted. "The spinach lasagna's great. You have to try that."

"So who did you come here with before?" Justin asked. "It seems like the perfect place for a date."

"I came here with clients. You know, I'd forgotten about it, but I did go on one date."

"Really?" Justin asked, completely intrigued. "Was he the one who scared you away from them?"

"I probably scared him since I ended up fucking the waiter," Brian stated proudly.

Justin chuckled. "That's terrible. You probably broke your date's heart."

"Probably," Brian grinned. "I'm a natural born heart breaker."

§ § § § §

"Justin?" Ted knocked on Justin's open door.

"Hi, Ted. Come in."

Ted handed Justin an envelope. "That's your paycheck. I was out of the office the day Brian had you fill out the forms so he may not have included the direct deposit form in the packet. I wanted to double check with you and see if you were interested in that."

"What do I need to do for that?"

"I'll have the forms on your desk in the morning," Ted answered, turning to leave.

"Thanks," Justin called after him.

Once Ted had left the office, Justin went back to working on the graphics for the Vincent's commercial. By the time he was finished, the office had gone quiet and Justin was sure that it was probably only him, Cynthia and Brian left at Exhibition. Looking at the clock on his desk, Justin realized that it was already after seven. Deciding that he'd worked enough for the day, he gathered his things and prepared to leave.

"Are you leaving or did you come back because you forgot something?" Brian asked from down the hall.

Justin closed his office door and turned toward Brian. "I'm leaving. I just wanted to finish some graphic work for the Vincent's commercial."

Brian walked toward Justin and smirked as he heard Justin suck in a deep breath as he stopped close to him. "Do you need a ride home?" he asked.

Justin found his feet somehow backed up into the corner in the dark hall and Brian's lean body was only inches from his own. Brian's form seemed to overpower his presence; it should have made him feel uncomfortable, but he welcomed it. "No, no…" he stuttered before clearing his throat. "I brought my car."

"See you tomorrow then." Brian gave Justin a curt nod and walked toward the elevators.

Justin wasn't pretending when he went back into his office because he was sure he'd forgotten something important. Even though he couldn't remember what it was. It had nothing to do with the feeling that crept up his spine and spread itself through every nerve in his body, the feeling he'd never experienced before that just so happened to appear the last two times he was close to Brian Kinney. His boss. Justin hadn't convinced himself that he'd forgotten a useless folder of sketches just because he couldn't bear the thought of riding alone in the elevator with Brian. He honestly forgot and needed the preliminary sketches for the first campaign he'd worked on at Exhibition.

Really. He did. Or so he convinced himself as he waited for the elevator to reach Exhibition's floor. He let out a relieved breath as the light for the tenth floor lit up above the metal doors. The doors opened and he started to rush in, only to stop in the middle of them.

"My fucking car won't start," Brian groused.

Justin gulped. "I'll give you a ride."

TBC...


	2. February

[ ](http://galeandrandy.livejournal.com/153868.html)

  
**February**

_People might not get all they work for in this world, but they must certainly work for all they get.- Frederick Douglass_

Justin hesitated outside of Brian's office door when he heard Cynthia's raised voice. He definitely didn't want to walk in on one of her and Brian's drama episodes.

"Karen told me you canceled your appointment again, Brian!"

"What are you, my mother?"

"What are you, an idiot?"

"Fuck off and while you're at it, tell Karen she's fired. She had no business telling you that I'd canceled the fucking appointment."

"Don't turn this around on her, Brian. She's worried about you and so am I. Is there a fucking reason you've canceled the last two appointments?" Cynthia's voice softened as she asked, "Are you afraid to go?"

"I'm not fucking afraid. I'm fine and Exhibition is busy as fuck right now. It's more important to meet with Leo Brown than to go the fucking oncologist for a checkup that I'm going to pass!"

Justin shrank back against the wall and took a deep breath, his hands unnoticeably squeezing the ad board. Justin couldn't believe that Brian was sick. He didn't think he looked sick, but he was sick, with fucking _cancer_! Brian seemed so healthy and he'd never heard about that in the rumor mill. Lindsay and Melanie had certainly never mentioned it.

"That was the reason you missed the first one," Cynthia said exasperated. "What the fuck was so important that you had to cancel the one a few weeks ago?"

"Excuse me if I'd rather keep a promise to my son instead of keeping an appointment that is now rescheduled!" Brian replied, his voice booming.

"Just make sure you keep the next appointment. If there is anything wrong, you want them to catch it early so you can be back to work. We can't afford to have you be out of commission and neither can Babylon, not with the renovations still going on there."

"Cynthia," Brian spoke lowly, "I'm fine. I'll let you know if I'm not. Speaking of Babylon's renovations, could you call…"

"Your secretary's name is _Karen_," Cynthia spoke slowly. "I haven't been your secretary or your assistant since we left Vangard."

"What the fuck ever," Brian muttered. "You've got shares in my playland too, so you can call Hector, he's the contractor, and tell him that I don't want him to start on the bathroom renovations until Monday."

"I guess I can do that," Cynthia agreed.

"Thank you," Brian said sincerely. "Now where the fuck is Taylor? I called him in here…"

"Sorry it took so long," Justin rushed into Brian's office.

"What'd you do, get lost?" Brian snarked.

"I didn't get lost," Justin said, hoping his voice's pitch sounded normal. "Good morning, Cynthia."

"Good morning, Justin." Cynthia shook her head at Brian and gave Justin a smile before leaving the office and closing the door behind her.

"Let me see it," Brian beckoned.

Justin placed the poster he'd been gripping tightly onto Brian's desk. "I don't like the font you chose," he said honestly.

"I don't like the crumpled edges. Were you even trying to be careful with it when you walked down here?"

Justin let out a deep breath of relief. Brian's bitchy disapproval was something he could deal with. "It's not like this is the final draft."

Brian nodded. "What font were you thinking?"

"I thought Broadway would be much more fitting."

Brian grinned. "For style _and_ conception."

Justin was smug. "Well, it is an advertisement for a theater chain."

"That font wouldn't look good in the purple but I want to stick with something dark."

"I was thinking a charcoal color with a purplish glow behind it. Then we're using both of the brand's signature colors."

"Perfect." Brian rolled the poster up and handed it back to Justin. "Go make me a copy with those changes."

"So you didn't want anything else changed?"

"I noticed you changed the color of the popcorn container yourself, so no, I don't." Brian felt a headache coming on and rubbed at his temples. "Can you get that done in an hour?"

Justin silently told himself not to worry about the painful expression on Brian's face or the dark circles under his eyes.

"Justin!" Brian barked.

Justin jumped. "What?"

"What's wrong with you?" Brian asked. "I know you weren't at Babylon last night. Did Eli keep you up late or something?"

"There are bars other than Babylon," Justin said.

Brian raised one eyebrow. "Really?" he asked, astonished. "So the reason I've never seen you around Liberty is because you hide in those skank holes?"

Justin was sure he could sue Brian for what the man had just said to him, but he reasoned that it'd be too much trouble and he liked his job. "Since you enjoy delving into the personal lives of your employees, I'll tell you what I did last night. Nothing."

"Nothing?" Brian asked disbelievingly.

"Nothing," Justin assured. "Eric was at his apartment and I was at mine, sleeping."

"Well, you aren't very quick today," Brian commented. "And your personal life is boring."

"I'm glad you think so." Justin shrugged. "So what was it that you were asking me before you started throwing out assumptions?"

Brian liked Justin's spunk, sometimes. "I want you to have a copy with the changes back to me in an hour," he spoke slowly. "Can you do that?"

"Of course," Justin said. "You don't have to talk to me like I'm three. The changes should only take a few minutes."

"Okay," Brian waved Justin off. "Get to it."

Justin walked out of Brian's office and walked toward his own, wondering why in the fuck he'd be worried about such an insolent man. How dare the man talk to him like a child, make accusations about his sex life and then call him boring! Even if Brian was right, he had no business commenting about his personal business.

When Justin reached his office he heard his cell phone ringing from the pocket of his jacket which was draped over the sofa. After closing the door and placing the test board on his desk, Justin sank onto the sofa and flipped open his phone. "Hey, Daph."

"Hey. Why do you sound so fucking depressed?"

"I'm not depressed, I'm aggravated."

"With Eric?" Daphne guessed.

"With my job…my boss, Brian Kinney."

"I thought you loved it there and at least it's just one of them giving you shit."

"True." Justin said, thinking of how different his work relationship was Cynthia than with Brian. "I do love it here. But… he seems to know exactly how to get under my skin."

"Well that's probably a good thing."

"Why would that be a good thing?"

"Because it means you'll be kept on your toes and things won't get boring."

Justin started laughing and could hardly control himself.

"What? What did I say?"

"Nothing," Justin said, calming down. "So what are you doing after your mom's birthday dinner?"

"Hanging out with you, unless you've made plans with Eric."

"I haven't. So, what do you want to see?"

"I don't want to see a movie, that's same old same old. I want to go out, I want to see Babylon."

"No way."

"What? When I told you I was coming you said we could go there. It's your boss' club, right?"

"Yeah and that's…"

"Then we're going. You promised. Hell, you were the one who was all excited to go. You couldn't stop talking about how bad you wanted to try out that spinning dance floor Ted told you about."

Justin was amazed at how Daphne seemed to remember every detail of every conversation they ever had. "Fine, fine, I guess we can go there."

"Do you think Brian and Ted will be there?" Daphne asked.

"I don't know. I don't think Brian should be going out."

"Why?"

"I overheard a conversation between him and Cynthia a little while ago. I don't know exactly what to make of it, but I think Brian might have cancer. I mean, I know he did, at one time. But I think that it is back."

"Wow. Do they know you heard them?"

"No, they don't. I get the feeling that Brian's kept it a secret."

"Jesus."

"I don't think Lindsay and Melanie know. I'm certain they would've mentioned it to me."

"Maybe not," Daphne reasoned. "It's not like you knew him."

"Yeah, but it's not just them never saying anything. Brian told Cynthia that the reason he canceled one of his check-ups was because he had to go to Gus' school for something. If Lindsay knew, I'm sure she'd be making sure that he went to all of his doctor appointments and kept himself healthy. If she knew she'd probably be at Exhibition every day making sure he wasn't over working himself."

"It sounds to me like she'd be smothering him," Daphne said.

"Which is another reason not to say anything," Justin pointed out.

"Well, you can't do anything about it," Daphne told Justin. "It's not like you can ask Lindsay if she knows, so don't worry about it. If she does know and wanted you to know I'm sure you would've."

"I guess. I just feel like I'm betraying her. They share a son; she should be getting him genetically tested."

"Justin, you're getting ahead of yourself. You don't even know what kind of cancer it was that Brian had and you don't know for sure if Lindsay knew. You shouldn't have been eaves dropping on Brian's private conversation so you need to forget about it."

"You're right," Justin admitted. "It's not my place. So, why did you want to know if they'd be at Babylon?"

"It'd be nice to know some other people there, that's all."

"I'm not enough for you?" Justin feigned a teary voice.

"Shut up. I can only be the hag to one fag at a time, you know that. It'd just be nice not to be stuck sipping drinks while you're picking up guys."

"I haven't ever done that," Justin told her. "I'm definitely not going to start tonight."

"Eric probably won't be going with us, will he?"

"Eric hasn't seen the inside of a gay establishment besides the GLC since he started teaching," Justin groused.

"You stopped tricking together?" Daphne gasped.

"This isn't exactly news, Daph. He's got to be careful about where he goes. I understand that; even if I were in his position I probably wouldn't go to the lengths he goes. He prefers to pick up guys at parks, I prefer to pick them up at bars, and it's no big deal."

"You two are just so different."

Justin thought that was the understatement of the century but he wouldn't admit that to her. Daphne had a way of over exaggerating every tiny little obstacle in Justin and Eric's relationship and making things a lot more complicated than Justin liked them to be. "I've got to get back to work. Come by my place when you're finished with your Mom's dinner and tell her I said Happy Birthday, okay?"

"Will do," Daphne replied. "Bye."

"Bye, Daph." Justin hung up his phone and allowed himself a few moments of self-pity. The last thing he wanted to do that night was go out to Babylon and run into Brian Kinney.

§ § § § §

"This place is awesome!" Daphne yelled.

Justin held his hand over his left ear. "You practically just busted my eardrum!"

Daphne grabbed Justin's arm and pulled him toward the bar. "Stop whining and get that bitter expression off your face."

Justin plastered on a fake smile as he allowed Daphne to drag him behind her through a new crop of men Justin had yet to try out. He reminded himself that he'd promised Daphne he wouldn't leave her to go off fucking but now that he was here and saw all the lust coming his way, Justin realized it was a promise that was going to be very hard to keep.

"What do you want to drink?" Justin asked, pulling out his wallet.

"Just a beer for now," Daphne answered.

"Two High Life's," Justin told the bartender.

"Coming right up," the hunky bartender replied, neatly flipping the caps of the bottles before placing them in front of Justin and Daphne. "That's gonna be $12.50."

"It's on the house, Sam."

Justin's neck broke out in goosebumps as he turned and looked at his boss. "Thanks," he said without emotion, putting his wallet away.

"Is this your boss?" Daphne asked, pushing Justin to the side so she could get a good look at the man beside him.

Before Justin could say anything, Brian offered his hand and gave his friend a charming smile, which made him want to puke.

"I'm one of Justin's bosses, yes," Brian replied, taking the girl's hand. "Brian Kinney."

Daphne giggled. "Daphne Chanders, I'm Justin's best friend."

"I'm sorry," Brian spoke seriously.

"About what?" Daphne asked, confused.

"That you're Eeyore's best friend," Brian explained, cocking his head toward Justin.

Justin chugged his beer and reminded himself that he liked his job and wanted to keep it.

Daphne laughed, clearly impressed with Brian's humor. "So what does that make me?"

"I'll have to ask my son. I'm not exactly on top of who Eeyore's best friend is."

"I doubt an almost eight-year-old knows or cares about that," Justin remarked.

"Is he always so bitchy?" Brian asked, signaling for the bartender.

Justin gave Brian an evil stare but kept quiet. Maybe then his "best friend" would realize how uncomfortable he was and stop talking to the enemy.

Daphne smiled warmly at Justin but looked back at Brian and nodded enthusiastically. "That's why I love him."

Justin continued to scowl and list reasons in his head why he still needed a best friend.

Brian tried to his best to draw Justin out of his own ass but it looked like he wasn't budging. "Three double JB's, Sam," Brian told the bartender. If Justin insisted on keeping the stick up his ass where it was, Brian would have to at least show his friend a good time. It wouldn't be right to let Daphne leave the newly remodeled Babylon without having the full experience first.

§ § § § §

"A Daphne Chanders is on line one for you, Mr. Taylor," Karen told Justin.

Justin debated on avoiding her call once again but figured that talking to her at work was probably the safest bet. "Thanks, Karen, I'll take the call," he said hanging up with her and pushing the flashing button on the phone. "Taylor."

"Why haven't you answered your cell?" Daphne griped. "It's been almost two weeks!"

"I've been busy," Justin replied.

"Too busy to call your best friend and make sure she made the drive home to Philly safely?"

"I texted you, remember?" Justin asked.

"Well, you should've called."

"Daphne, I'm busy so if you…"

"I can't believe you're actually mad at me for making you have fun."

"You didn't _make_ me have fun. I know how to have fun all on my own. You insisted that we hang out with my boss all evening and proceeded to flirt with him, even though he's gay, all night. You made him dance with us, which he does horribly; you had him buying us drinks, getting us drunk so that you could tell him all about our childhood. Now, little Justin's naked painting is the latest gossip at the water cooler."

"But Brian said that he wouldn't tell anyone," Daphne stammered. "I can't believe he did!"

"Well, he didn't," Justin said. "At least not yet. But I certainly didn't want my boss to know details about my childhood. We're not even friends and now he knows almost as much about my adolescence as you do!"

"You two seemed friendly by the end of the night," Daphne informed Justin.

"We weren't anything more than cordial strangers."

Daphne laughed. "You're such a freak."

"So when are you coming to visit me again?"

"You actually want me back?" Daphne joked.

"Even if you do embarrass me, yes, I want you to come back." Justin felt a lot better now that he'd bitched at Daphne.

"Well I'm not sure when school and work are going to coincide with me having a few days off in a row. The next time they do, I'll be down there visiting. Maybe then you won't be such a shit to me?"

"Maybe," Justin laughed. His phone began to beep and his other line started to flash. "I've got another call; I'll talk to you soon."

"Bye, Justin!" Daphne said, disconnecting.

Justin switched lines. "Taylor."

"Mr. Taylor, this is Anna. I'm having trouble understanding the instructions for the Larson ad."

"What exactly are you having trouble with, Anna?" Justin asked, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Well it's your job to oversee the final product, so couldn't you just come down here?"

Justin took a deep breath and slowly released it. "Anna, I know perfectly well what my job is. Perhaps an infraction slip will remind you of what your job is and how exactly you should speak to your superior? I'll be right down with it."

§ § § § §

Cynthia closed the door to Justin's office quietly. "The whole office is talking," she said.

Justin was busy putting together the final touches of the Larson board and hadn't seen her walk in. He practically jumped in his chair. "Ms. Prescott, you startled me."

"Please call me Cynthia, Justin." She smiled as she neared the desk. "Isn't that something the lead project manager should be doing?"

Justin continued to fix the final photo to the board. "I don't mind it. I sort of miss the really hands on stuff like this."

"Do you plan on demoting Anna Ritter?" Cynthia asked.

"I plan on giving her this last chance before I do. The next infraction I will demote her. Daniel Grove is very capable of having her Liaison position and I let Anna know this."

"If she's still a bitch to you after that don't hesitate to fire her, Justin. She's one of Cade's hires and I never thought she was anything special."

"I'll keep that in mind," Justin replied. "So what do you think?" he asked of the advertisement.

"Brian's going to love it, Justin. You certainly know how to take his ideas and make them reality. You should go show it to him, it might cheer him up," Cynthia suggested.

"I've still got to print out the title and get that placed, but as soon as I do I'll go see what he thinks," Justin told her. "Thanks for the vote of confidence."

§ § § § §

Justin stopped by Karen's desk and asked, "Is Mr. Kinney free?"

"He is," Karen answered. "Go on in."

Justin walked down the hall and opened Brian's office door. He was completely unprepared for the sight before him. "Uh...Brian?"

Receiving no response, Justin closed the door behind him, placed the ad board beside Brian's desk and walked over to the couch. He tapped the sleeping man on the arm. "Brian, wake up."

Brian's eyes popped open and he found himself staring at Justin Taylor upside down. "What the fuck?"

Justin would've laughed if he at first hadn't noticed the dark circles under Brian's eyes and his pale skin. "I came to bring you the final board for the Larson account," he explained. Justin was careful not to look at the skin above Brian's waistband which the man had unknowingly been showing off in his sleep.

Brian sat up and tried to wake up as he righted his clothing. "What time is it?"

Justin glanced at the clock on the wall. "3:15."

"Shit." Brian grabbed the papers that had scattered around the floor next to the sofa. "I was reading this shit at lunch."

"Are you feeling okay?" Justin asked gently.

Brian gave Justin a murderous glare and demanded, "Who told you?"

Justin gulped. "Told me what? Do you have the flu or something?"

Brian sighed in relief and stood up. "No. I had Gus over last night and didn't get much sleep."

"Was it the giant do-do bird or the alligator?" Justin asked.

"The alligator," Brian said. "Three different times."

"Poor little guy," Justin commented. "At least you were there with him."

"I don't think it mattered much," Brian replied, picking up the board and fixing it up on his desk.

"Sure it did," Justin assured Brian. "Every time I've ever watched him and he's had a nightmare, he always wants you there to comfort him."

"He does, huh?" Brian smiled sadly.

"Yeah," Justin assured. He noticed how vulnerable Brian looked and changed the subject. "What do you think?"

Brian crossed his arms and examined Justin's work. "It's perfect."

Justin grinned. "Thank god. Cause I really didn't want to stay late at work tonight."

"Big plans with Arron?" Brian joked.

"**Eric** and I don't have plans. I have plans with my couch, a tub of popcorn and a bath."

"So you two don't give one another love notes, chocolates and flowers on Valentine's Day?" Brian asked.

Justin's insides took a nose dive. "Fuck."

Brian laughed. "You do celebrate the breeder day but you forgot!"

"Fuck," Justin ran his hands through his hair. "I haven't even gotten him anything yet."

Brian took pity on Justin but only because he'd done a superb job on the Larson account. "You're done today."

"Huh?"

"You can go home if you want. Maybe then you can make it to Hallmark and get the wife something nice."

"Fuck you," Justin said, rushing out of Brian's office. Brian's loud laughter boomed through the halls of Exhibition, taunting Justin until the elevator doors closed.

§ § § § §

"Is Justin going to Babylon tonight?" Ted asked in between bites of his burger.

"Why would I know?" Brian asked.

"Who is Justin?" Michael asked.

"This cute blond who Brian was hanging out with at Babylon a few weeks ago," Emmett answered.

Brian knocked the french fry Emmett was about to take off his plate out of his fingers. "How would you know about that? Weren't you with Drew in fucking L.A.?" Brian glared at Ted. "Spreading office gossip, Theodore?"

"Don't look at me," Ted replied, waving his hands. "I didn't say a word."

"What's with the secrecy?" Michael persisted from beside Brian.

"It's no secret," Emmett said. "Everyone was talking about it and it just made it to my ears a few days ago."

"He works at Exhibition," Brian explained. "He's my new Art Director."

"Brian, please tell me that you're not dipping your quill in the office ink," Michael groaned.

"Would you all shut the fuck up?" Brian barked. "Justin is an employee. I haven't and won't be fucking him. He went to Babylon a few weeks ago with his friend Daphne. I happened to dance and hang out with them because they didn't know anyone else there and Justin didn't want to leave Daphne alone while he pissed."

"The rumor mill said you two were all over one another," Emmett countered.

"It's called a 'rumor mill' for a reason," Ted pointed out. "I asked if Justin was going to be there tonight because I had something work related to talk to him about."

"So you're not seeing him?" Michael asked, looking at Brian closely.

Brian heaved an aggravated sigh. "Don't' worry, Mikey. You can go home to the professor tonight. I don't need you to be my guard dog."

"Your guard dog?" Michael asked. "Brian, if you actually found someone you wanted to be with, sure I'd want to meet him and make sure he wasn't an asshole, but I want you to be as happy as Ben and I are."

"I am that happy," Brian said, smiling dreamily. "Alone," he clarified. "I don't need someone else to make me happy."

"Right," Emmett spoke up. "He's got a tight fist and long fingers."

Everyone laughed at Emmett's joke and for revenge; Brian threw a handful of fries at his friend. He joined in the laughter as he saw a large grease stain form on the brand new sweater Emmett had been showing off minutes before.

§ § § § §

"Shit!" Justin grabbed for a napkin and wiped barbecue sauce off his lips.

Eric tried to help wipe away the dollop of sauce that splattered Justin's jeans but he only succeeded in spreading the 'would-be stain' around. "I'm sorry," he said through his laughter. "I guess feeding one another ribs isn't the most romantic idea I've ever had."

"Kiss me and it'll make up for your oversight," Justin teased, using his sticky hand to bring Eric's head toward him.

Eric sucked the sauce from Justin's top lip as he skimmed his barbecue sauce laden hands under Justin's sweater, pushing it up. "Come down here," he requested, kneeling beside his chair.

Justin dropped down on his knees and waited for Eric to make the next move. It was rare for Eric to be the aggressor and Justin wanted to give the man free reign of his body tonight. He wanted to let himself go, let all of his fears and inhibitions evaporate.

"Lie back," Eric requested, still lifting Justin's shirt up as he gently pushed him to lie back on the carpet. He crawled between Justin's legs, took his pants and underwear off, then dipped his head down and started licking a trail up Justin's chest.

Justin writhed on the ground, his moans urging Eric to continue the pleasure, his dick rising as self-forbidden thoughts entered his mind. He quickly pulled Eric's gray sweater off him and pulled him down on top of his body, making them both grunt as they momentarily lost their breath. Justin lifted his hips, grinded his erection against Eric's leg and scratched his nails up Eric's back.

Eric nibbled along Justin's neck as his hands moved under Justin's back, to his ass and grasped it, his fingertips almost in his crack, but then he moved them up and held Justin's head as he kissed him.

Both Justin and Eric began to rut against one another, kissing, biting and grabbing at one another as they flung their clothing off, finally exposing themselves completely.

"Fuck me."

Justin's legs were wrapped around Eric's slim hips and his body shivered every time Eric's cock head would nudge under his balls while they rutted together.

Justin watched as Eric grabbed the lubed condom and seconds later tore it open with his teeth. He held his breath as Eric crawled closer to him. Justin didn't start breathing until the condom was completely secured on his own cock and Eric was straddling him, bracing himself with one hand on his knee and guiding Justin's dick into his asshole.

Tonight Justin had wanted, _needed_ something different. But instead, Eric was wildly riding his cock and loving every second of it. Watching Eric come, shooting all over his chest, was beautiful. Justin's orgasm was small, barely noticeable to him. All he could think as he carefully pulled his dick from Eric's ass was that he wanted to know what it was like to be beautiful for someone the way Eric was always beautiful for him.

§ § § § §

"No," Justin grunted, taking a long pull from his cigarette.

"Justin, you haven't given it enough thought," Eric replied.

"I've thought about it, Eric. That's why I was able to say no so quickly," he assured, puffs of smoke blowing out of his mouth with every word he spoke.

Eric waved at the smoke and fake-coughed. "I wish you would stop smoking."

"You didn't have to follow me outside the gates did you?"

"Jesus, keep your voice down. There are kids sleeping in these buildings."

Justin crossed his arms and gave Eric a steely glare. "This conversation is proof of why we should not live together."

Eric was silent, his expression turning confused as he shrugged his shoulders.

Justin pointed with his cigarette between he and Eric. "This thing with you and me right now," he said. "First, you hate me smoking. I love smoking but would like to quit one day. However, I get sick of hearing you bitch about it now that you're Mr. Green Peace. You stress me out so I need a second cigarette while you're bitching about the first. I don't want to deal with that every time I want to smoke."

"You won't move in with me because I care about your health more than you do," Eric pointed out.

"Ah… no." Justin pretended like he was oblivious to the fact that he blew his smoke right in Eric's face. "That's not it exactly, but also, I'm fucking freezing and I'm going to catch pneumonia because I have to walk a fucking mile to get from your apartment to outside the complex's gates. How's that for my health?"

Eric put his hands on his hips. "The complex is smoke free. I didn't make that rule."

"Whatever, even if we had a different place you would insist on bitching every time I lit up inside and I'd be forced to go outside. But I couldn't even do that because you'd want to move somewhere that's just as dedicated to living green as this place is. Can we get off the smoking thing now?" he asked.

Eric nodded. "You're the one that brought it up."

"It was just one of many reasons that you are showing me right now why we shouldn't live together. Another thing, how about the fact that I said I needed a minute to think you followed me out here anyway, basically demanding that I talk to you."

"I wasn't…"

"You couldn't give me five minutes to think about it?" Justin asked.

"Fine, I'll leave you alone," Eric huffed and began to turn for the gate.

Justin grabbed Eric's arm. "You wanted to talk to me so now maybe you should actually listen to me for once," he pleaded.

"Fine. Tell me how wrong my wants for our relationship are."

Justin rolled his eyes at the statement. "Do you know what I do when I don't go out to the bars or over to your house after work?"

Eric shrugged. "Watch TV, sleep, sketch."

"I paint, Eric. I turn on loud music and paint until the sun rises. Did you know that?"

"You never told me."

"After eight years, how could you not know? Even if I have to work on no sleep, I'll get up in the middle of the night and paint if I need to. I paint or sketch or even fucking color with crayons. I don't have anyone telling me to keep it down, to come to bed, to get sleep so I don't suck at work the next day. I don't have to worry about thin walls and neighbors with kids asleep because there aren't any kids in the whole damn building."

"Okay, okay, okay," Eric hushed, throwing his hands up in the air and walking away from Justin. "You're happy the way you are and you don't want me cramping your style."

Justin wasn't going to run after Eric and apologize for his honesty, he never did. He wasn't going to feel bad for being happy with his life the way it way. It sort of sucked that this was how they had to end their Valentine's Day, but Justin wasn't about to do agree to move in with Eric because he knew it would put an end to their relationship or at least greatly fuck it up and he liked it just the way it was. The way it had been almost since it began.

§ § § § §

Brian grabbed Justin's wrist and pulled him out of the hallway and into his office.

"What the fuck, Brian?" Justin groused, shaking Brian's hand off him.

"What's your problem?" Brian demanded an answer. "I heard you talking to Cynthia a minute ago. You need to apologize."

"What?" Justin was flabbergasted.

Slowly, Brian answered, "Apologize to Cynthia for being a dickhead."

"I wasn't being a dickhead!" Justin shouted as he practically slammed Brian's door shut.

Brian blinked, sure he was imagining Justin's outburst. "Are you serious right now?" he asked, stepping up closer to Justin.

Justin closed his eyes and raked his hands down his face. "Fuck," he mumbled. "I'm sorry." He definitely felt foolish.

"Sorry's bullshit," Brian snarked.

Justin was in disbelief. "You just wanted me to apologize to Cynthia."

"You need to. But that doesn't mean you have to say you are sorry. Buy her a fucking latte or get her a bagel tomorrow morning."

"I take it that's what you do," Justin guessed, smiling a little.

Brian raised one eyebrow. "Why are you being so bitchy to everyone this week? I have yet to get the brunt of your bitchy side. If you're ever rude to Cynthia when she asks to see something for an account again, I will fucking fire you. Do you understand me?"

"Yes," Justin sighed, collapsing onto Brian's sofa.

"One more thing," Brian said, sitting down beside Justin. "You need to get over yourself, your mom or whoever the fuck pissed in your cereal. Oh, wait a minute. Did you and your wife have a wittle fight?"

Justin threw his head in his hands and whined, "No we didn't."

Brian tilted Justin's face up and smiled evilly at him. "You did. So, tell me. What did you and Arron fight about?"

"I'm not telling you," Justin protested.

"Why not?"

"Because you've never even been in a relationship so you wouldn't understand."

"Conversely, that's also why I'd be objective." Brian really didn't plan on giving Justin any advice; he wanted to know what was causing his employee to be so bitchy so that he could go back to being the happy, annoying genius Art Director he usually was.

"Eric won an award for his environmental work with his students. Next month the governor is going to present him the award at a ceremony at his school. He invited his sister who is a homophobic bitch that refuses to be in the same room with me."

"Who gives a shit about her, Justin? He's your boyfriend; go see him get the award."

"I'd like to, except that he didn't invite me. Whenever he invites Missy, it's a given that I'm not invited. Of course I don't plan on being there as his partner and I understand why he'd be hesitant about that but I could've gone as a friend."

"Then why don't you?" Brian asked. "Show that bitch that you could care less about her because being there for Eric is what you want, right?"

Justin started cracking up laughing.

"What?" Brian asked, elbowing Justin.

"You actually gave me good advice. Who are you?"

Brian stood up abruptly and pointed to the door. "Say thank you and get out of my office."

Justin stood up and grinned at Brian. "Thank you."

"You want to know how you can give me thanks that I deserve?" Brian asked. As Justin backed up against his desk he had to refocus his mind. He was so not imagining his Art Director naked, legs spread and begging to be fucked across his desk.

"What's that?" Justin asked.

Brian cleared his throat and replied lamely, "Get the Dandy Lube graphics on my desk before you leave."

"I can do that," Justin promised, brushing past Brian before leaving his office.

The reason Brian walked over to his open door was to close it. It had nothing to do with the fact that Justin's khaki pants seemed extra tight today and he needed to stare at his ass, imagining the seams bursting and revealing to Brian that Justin had gone commando as he suspected.

Tbc


	3. March

[ ](http://galeandrandy.livejournal.com/153868.html)

  
**March**

_Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work.-Aristotle_

Brian walked over to the bar and wedged himself in between Justin and his potential trick. "Well if it isn't the ubiquitous, Justin Taylor."

"Fancy meeting you here, Mr. Kinney." Justin looked over Brian's shoulder and held up his pointer finger, indicating to the man that had been hitting on him that he'd only be a moment.

"Again." Brian scowled. "Shouldn't you be at home resting? We have an 8 a.m. meeting with Liberty Air tomorrow, or have you forgotten?"

Justin rolled his eyes. "It's only eleven o'clock. Besides, who are you to talk?"

"I'm your boss," Brian told him. "I can be out as late as I want because I don't have anyone to impress but myself."

"And Cynthia," Justin said.

Brian raised his beer. "I don't have to report to you or her, but you can sleep soundly tonight knowing that this is my last drink and I only stopped by to check up on the new sound system I had installed."

"You definitely keep good tabs on the things you own," Justin quipped. "But you don't own me so I'll bid you goodnight." Justin side-stepped Brian and grabbed the lanky red-head waiting on him and pulled him toward the backroom.

Brian signaled the bartender for a shot of whiskey and grinned while he drank it. As he placed the glass on the bar, his eyes caught a new treat that had just become his next trick. Normally, Brian would take the man upstairs to the V.I.P. room but it had been some time since he'd been in the backroom and he figured it was as good a place as any for a quick fuck.

The knowledge of that morning and waking up from an erotic dream in which he'd been fucking Justin had nothing to do with his decision. He didn't **need** to see if Justin's naked ass looked just as good as it had in his dream, as good as it did in the tight-fitting black jeans Brian noticed he'd been wearing. He definitely didn't need to see what Justin's ass looked like with them pushed down just below his butt cheeks as he plowed into the red-headed trick who's eyes were rolling back into his head.

As Brian forced his trick to his knees instead of fucking him, he definitely wasn't choosing a blowjob over fucking because it allowed him to watch Justin fuck much more easily. He didn't stare at Justin's pursed lips, imagining what they'd feel like wrapped around his cock. Brian didn't trade glances between Justin's face and the shadowed place between Justin's groin and the trick's ass. He didn't get more turned on by the few glimpses he got at Justin's thick, latex covered cock than he did by the hot mouth sucking his dick.

He didn't, because he had his own trick and he was in the mood for an easy, quick orgasm. He wanted to be completely alert tomorrow if he was going to bitch at Justin for coming to work hung over and fucked out. He even allowed himself to come quickly and could care less that his come coincidently coincided with Justin Taylor's orgasm.

§ § § § §

Justin jumped as the alert for a new instant message rang through his computer's speakers. He wasn't sure why exactly he jumped, considering the fact that Brian had been instant messaging him approximately every six minutes.

**BKExhibitionCEO**: _Nix the last color change. I'll pm you when I decide what I like best._

**JTExhibitionAD**: _I figured._

Justin was through with allowing Brian to harass him. It had pissed Brian off when Justin showed up to work happy and ready to go into the Liberty Air meeting, showing no signs of the hours he spent at Babylon. Justin wasn't sure why Brian was pissed at him for being a good employee, but he was and the constant instant messaging over the last four hours was only one way that Brian was being a dick to him.

Normally, Justin didn't sit in on pitches for clients. However, last week Brian had asked him to attend the pitch meeting for Liberty Air. Justin had come up with the new slogan which was specifically tied to the graphics in all of the television spots. Brian had told Justin that he'd begin the pitch and field it to him once it got down to discussing the details of the commercials. However, Brian never engineered the meeting to go in that direction.

All morning Justin had been ordered around the room, fixing up boards and even going after coffee for one of the Liberty Air clients. Once returning to the conference room, he sat in his chair, watching as Brian conducted the meeting, waiting and waiting for Brian to pass the pitch onto him.

When Brian explained everything that Justin though he was supposed to give details on, Justin nearly lost it but knew that it would be the end of his job if he said a word in front of the clients. Brian did give Justin full credit where it was due, but beyond that he was the only person who talked besides the clients. Even when the CEO of Liberty Air directly asked Justin a question regarding the color of one of the plane's wings in the ad, Brian took over and explained word for word what he and Justin had previously discussed. As Liberty Air signed the contracts, Brian dismissed Justin from the meeting.

At first, Justin hadn't been too pissed because he forced himself to give Brian the benefit of the doubt. He was disappointed, but he'd figured that there might have been a reason why Brian deviated from their plan on short notice. He figured that Brian had a very good explanation for it and would explain and give him some kind of apology. It never came.

Twenty minutes after Justin was sent to his office he received an instant message detailing four things that Brian wanted changed on a board he'd already approved. The board was for a Simmons Spa pitch which was scheduled for the next day. Justin immediately called down to the Art Department to have the changes made and Jackie was on her way back to his office with the new board when Brian instant messaged him about more changes to the changes they'd made with the bubbly text.

The things Brian wanted changed were trivial little things that were easily altered on the computer. But after the third change, more kept coming, all without Brian ever giving Justin enough time to show him the finished product. Sometimes Justin was sure that they had gone back to the original idea but he couldn't be sure. Any suggestions he dared to give Brian were completely ignored.

After the seventh change, Justin knew his employees were getting more than a little agitated. All the changes were making Justin look as though he was indecisive and his eye for Art was inapt. Brian was wasting the Art Department's resources and time but they didn't know that it was Brian; they thought it was Justin's doing. When the eighth change came, Justin pretended like he cared and wrote it down in his notes. He could hardly get any other work done as Brian continued to instant message him and by now Justin had lost count of the changes and was wishing that Cynthia hadn't called in sick because he really needed someone to talk some sense into Brian.

A couple of weeks ago Justin had flipped out in Brian's office about a personal matter. Justin didn't want to be forced to do the same thing with a work matter; he didn't need anyone thinking he was unprofessional. But he couldn't stand it any longer. He had to go see Brian and find out what the fuck had happened to make the man be such a bastard to him.

The perfect opportunity arose when a minute after sending his response to Brian he received one in return with the expected response.

**BKExhibitionCEO**: My office now.

**JTExhibitionAD**: Right away, sir. :)

Justin took his time gathering what he would be taking with him to lunch first and slowly walked down to Brian's office. He didn't bother knocking or having Karen alert Brian and tell him that he was on his way. He walked right into Brian's office with a care-free expression on his face. "I'm headed out for my lunch break," Justin stated as he walked over to Brian's desk. "What do you need from me before I go?"

"Go?" Brian asked, wondering if he'd actually annoyed Justin to the point in which he'd quit.

Justin looked at his watch and then back at Brian. "I'm going to lunch."

"Oh." Brian straightened his tie and was about to have more fun when his office phone rang. He held up one of his fingers indicating that Justin should wait and picked up the receiver of the phone. "Yes, Karen?"

"Dr. Conway's office is holding to confirm your appointment for tomorrow afternoon at two o'clock. Your schedule is clear, should I confirm?"

"Yes, Karen, confirm it for two o'clock," Brian replied and hung up the phone. He suddenly felt sick and the prospect of fucking with Justin had lost his amusement for the day. "I don't need anything else," Brian told Justin. "Please come see me after lunch." By then, Brian was sure he would have his drive back.

Justin nodded solemnly and left Brian's office, feeling more than a little confused. He'd seen the fight he expected in Brian's eyes when he first walked into the man's office. Whatever the subject of the phone call, it had to have been something big to cause Brian's color to drain from his face and his mood to shift so drastically. Justin felt disappointed because he really planned to give Brian what he deserved, in a calm, cool and collected way of course.

When the elevator doors dinged and Justin stepped inside, a light-bulb response in Justin's brain triggered. Brian had been confirming something and he was pretty sure it was a doctor's appointment. He knew the schedule of clients for the next day and there was nothing scheduled after lunch. Justin had been thinking a lot about Brian's health, even if it weren't his place, he couldn't help it. Maybe that was the reason for Brian's games, maybe he needed the distraction? Justin couldn't be sure, but it would definitely explain things. It didn't excuse them, he was still pissed, but he figured he could force himself to handle it.

§ § § § §

"I think Brian's depressed," Michael commented to Lindsay.

Lindsay laughed. "What are you talking about?"

"He hasn't been himself all night. Normally he'd be ribbing on us and…"

"Stop worrying," Ben told his partner. "Brian is fine, he's happy." Ben pointed into the living room at Brian who was laughing as Gus wrestled with him.

"Something is weird with Brian," Michael defended quietly. "He's been ignoring us and hanging out with Gus all night."

"So something has to be wrong with him to spend time with Gus?" Lindsay asked. "He's his father and he's been spending a lot of time with him lately."

"You know I didn't mean it like that," Michael said. "I'm worried. Something with him is off. I can feel it."

"Of course something is off with Brian," Melanie put in. "Instead of spending his night at Babylon he actually kept his promise and came to dinner."

Lindsay walked into the living room to join Brian and her son. She wasn't going to sit around and listen to them gossiping. So what if Brian had finally gotten over his daddy issues and was finally acting like a responsible father? She was glad that it seemed like over the last couple of years he was actually growing up.

"I win!" Gus yelled, rolling off of Brian's chest and pumping his fists in the air.

Brian pulled Gus back down on the floor and began to tickle him. "Who wins?" he asked.

"I do. I do!" Gus giggled.

"What?" Brian asked. "I didn't hear you."

"I'm gonna pee!" Gus warned.

Brian gave up and let Gus go. Gus stumbled up and ran for the bathroom. Brian sat down on the couch beside Lindsay. "I'm getting to old to wrestle."

Okay, Lindsay thought. Maybe there was something wrong with Brian. "You what?" she asked.

Brian threw a throw pillow in Lindsay's face. "It's your entire fault, of course," he told her, standing up.

"I've got to go check on Babylon," Brian told Michael walking back into the dining room.

Lindsay grinned to herself as she heard that. Brian was just fine, he definitely was not depressed.

§ § § § §

"Ahh!" Eric winced as Justin pulled out of him.

Justin tied off the condom and threw it in the trash as he climbed out of Eric's bed. "That was hot."

"Are you all right?" Eric asked, reaching out to pull Justin toward him.

Justin backed away from Eric and started to dress. "I'm fine."

"You don't seem fine," Eric commented. "The way you just fucked me was…"

"You got off, didn't you?" Justin snapped, pulling his shirt on.

"Of course I got off, Justin. You know I like it when we get rough, if I didn't I would've stopped you."

"Then what's the problem?" Justin asked, sighing deeply.

"You're angry and I want to know why so that I can..."

"You actually don't know why I'm angry?" Justin asked. He and Eric rarely fought. They kept things casual enough so that there usually wasn't anything major to argue about. "Maybe I should give you an award for being dense."

"Oh," Eric groaned, "this is about the award ceremony."

"Julia is homophobic. She doesn't support who you really are so why would you want her there instead of me?"

"Come here." Eric grabbed for Justin's arm and this time he sat back down on the bed beside him. "I want you there. I thought you understood that."

"You never want me around when your sister is around, Eric. Why would I think that you want me there when the first thing you said after telling me about the award was that she was going to be at the ceremony?"

"You didn't seem that pissed when we talked this morning, I thought you realized that I wanted you both there. But if it bothers you that much I'll tell her she can't come, Justin. She was having lunch with me when I got the phone call about it…"

"I don't want you to tell your sister she can't come," Justin interrupted, feeling foolish. "I don't expect you to hold my hand while we're there or introduce me as more than a friend to everyone else. I get why you can't do that. But I won't put up with her comments about me."

"Neither will I," Eric promised, kissing along Justin's cheek. "Are you really leaving now?" he asked, running his hands under Justin's shirt.

Justin shivered and felt his cock swelling back to life. He pushed Eric back down on the bed and replied, "No, I'm not leaving."

§ § § § §

"Would you stop?"

Justin looked up from his laptop, clueless as to what he was doing that was bothering Brian. "What?"

"You keep sighing, _deeply_, every fucking time your stomach makes those weird noises."

Justin balled up a sticky note and tossed it at Brian, hitting him in the nose. "Those noises are hunger, Brian. Surely you've been hungry before."

Brian loudly closed his own laptop and stood up. "Come on. Pack up."

"You want me to go home? Brian, you can't get all this done alone."

"I'm not going to do it alone. We're going back to my place to work. I need to get out of this suit and relax or I won't be able to think anymore."

"There's no way I'm going to your place. That'd be like totally weird."

"Why?" Brian asked, packing up his briefcase.

"Cause you're my boss. I'd feel weird going to your place."

"You come to my club, where you've seen me get my cock sucked and where you have seen me fuck, but coming to my house is crossing some invisible barrier?"

"Yeah," Justin said lamely.

Brian dialed a number on his cell. "I'm ordering Thai to pick up. What do you want?"

"Just get me whatever you're having," Justin replied, resigning himself to his fate.

§ § § § §

"Your loft it…." Justin struggled for the right word.

Brian waited for the praise.

"It looks designer," Justin finished, turning to face Brian.

Brian gave a snort. "You say designer like that's a bad thing."

"It's not," Justin replied, walking over to the bar in the kitchen. "You just… you need a little color, some art. A painting."

"I have a painting," Brian said, pointing to it over his shoulder while he dished out the food.

"I saw. It's not like I could miss a horrible painting of an ugly naked guy."

"If you paint me something I might consider replacing it," Brian offered. "Lindsay's been after me to sell it to the gallery for a while now."

Justin considered it. "If I have the time." He grabbed his plate of food and one of the beers Brian had placed on the counter and walked back toward the living area.

Brian had seen Justin's art work and he wondered why he hadn't pursued a career as a full-time artist, he definitely had the talent to make it as one. "Why did you choose to get into graphic art instead of…"

"Chasing a silly dream that would most likely not come true?" Justin asked, sitting down on the sickeningly-soft white sofa.

"You have the talent," Brian voiced his earlier thought. "You could be conquering the art world."

Justin barely swallowed his drink of beer before bursting out laughing at Brian. "You've known me for like three months, you've never seen any of my pieces in person, you love the graphic art I do for your agency yet you think I should just quit and move to New York or something?"

"Maybe not exactly that," Brian said. "I saw samples of your paintings; they should be hanging in a gallery somewhere."

"They are," Justin said, grinning smugly. "Well a few of the ones in my portfolio are now hanging in people's homes or offices or wherever it is they put them after buying them. The others are in my apartment."

"So why, if your art was selling, didn't you get an agent and pursue it?"

"I've always wanted to be an animator," Justin confessed. He was sure that Brian would laugh at him but was surprised when he didn't.

"Why aren't you?"

"The first assignment I had at CMU was to design a fake advertisement graphic for deodorant."

Brian chuckled. "How inspiring."

"I think you mean, perspiring," Justin corrected. "Anyway, I actually had a lot of fun with it and probably went over the top researching the demographics and well I don't have to tell you how to develop a campaign."

"So you designed a whole campaign?" Brian asked, impressed. "You didn't just do the art?"

"No, because I really felt like I had to know everything about what I was designing for first. I got so into it and my professor encouraged me to present it to the class. I got such a thrill from pitching it to them. I made it so appealing and so sexy that everyone really loved it. I actually got a hard on afterwards and had to go to the bathroom to jerk off. From that day on I knew that I wanted to work in advertising."

Brian immediately forced his imagination away from thinking about Justin jerking off in a bathroom stall. "Then let's get to work," he said, placing his empty plate on the coffee table and grabbing his briefcase.

§ § § § §

While Brian was taking a shower, Justin was making the dinner he'd insisted on picking up the makings for when they left the office. He got burnt out on take-out this week since he'd spent the last three nights working at Brian's loft. He knew a quick recipe for a Chicken Soup that would taste as though it'd been simmering all day. Justin put the lid on the chicken soup he'd made and turned the heat down on the burner. He then glanced at the sweet rolls in the oven to be sure they weren't burning and started to search through Brian's cabinets for bowls, spoons and wine glasses.

Justin was startled when he heard the home phone ringing, cutting through the silence of the loft. He didn't even think about answering it as he walked beside it and began placing two small plates and bowls on the table.

He heard the shower shut off in the bathroom at the same time as the answering machine picked up.

"Brian Kinney, this is Dr. Conway. I know you are anxious about the test results and wanted to call you as soon as I received them. There is nothing that gives any indication that the testicular cancer spread; you are still in remission. Your blood work all came out normal and unless you find you are having problems with the prosthetic…."

Brian turned the machine down and Justin, who had been standing completely still, whipped around to face him. He stared at Justin, silently daring him to say or do something stupid.

"I'm not going to tell anyone," Justin said quickly.

Brian released a deep breath.

"I'm guessing that you haven't told anyone."

Brian set the answering machine down and stepped backwards, slowly making his way up toward the bedroom steps. "I haven't… Cynthia, Ted and Karen know, that's it. If I find out you ran your mouth off you're…"

"I wouldn't fucking do that to you, Brian," Justin reassured. "I wouldn't. And you don't have to worry, I'm not going to start treating you with kid gloves or whatever the fuck you're afraid I'll do."

"I'm not afraid of anything."

Justin put his hands on his hips and huffed. "Right. That's why you don't want to tell anyone who loves you?"

"It's not any of your fucking business."

Justin nodded. "I know. That's why you don't have to worry about me pitying you or whatever. You're still an asshole boss who works my ass off during the day and picks up guys with me at night."

Brian relaxed and smiled.

Justin walked over to Brian and gave him a hug. "I'm glad you're okay."

"I thought it wasn't any of your business," Brian said, stepping out of Justin's arms.

Justin laughed. "Right, well that was for like the split second where it was my business because shit, everyone who beats cancer should have someone be glad for them when they've done it."

Brian shrugged his shoulders and walked back up into his bedroom to get dressed. "Dinner actually smells good," he said, surprised.

"I can cook," Justin told him. "But this isn't anything special; it's just fucking chicken soup."

Tbc...


	4. April

[ ](http://galeandrandy.livejournal.com/153868.html)

  
**April**

_When love and skill work together, expect a masterpiece.-John Ruskin_

"So what does your fortune say?" Justin asked, crawling closer to Brian.

"You will succeed in your next business venture."

"How generic," Justin commented while opening his own fortune cookie. "How peculiar."

"What? What does it say?" Brian asked, taking the small slip of paper from Justin's fingers. "The same fucking fortune," he laughed. "Cheap bastards."

Justin chugged his wine and wiped his lips with the back of his hand. "Well, I guess no matter what we put together for Doggoneit' Dog Food, it's guaranteed to be genius," he spoke with a country twang.

"You really aren't good at impersonating Mr. Lyle. Promise me that you won't actually talk to him like that during the pitch."

"Like I would." Justin playfully kicked Brian's thigh and threw a piece of chicken at him. "I'm not even going to be in the room while you pitch it. And you're very wrong, Mr. Kinney. I'd make a good comedian."

Brian gave Justin a skeptical look as he twirled noodles into his mouth. "Show me," he ordered while chewing. "Say or do something funny."

Justin stuffed a piece of chicken in his mouth and shook his head at Brian. "You'll make fun of me and tell everyone at the office about it."

"I don't gossip." Brian crossed his heart. "I won't tell anyone how bad you are. I promise."

"Fine, fine, fine." Justin stood up from the futon and walked behind the sofa. "Well this isn't really an impression," he warned.

"Just do it," Brian encouraged.

"How very ad man of you," Justin joked.

"That wasn't funny," Brian remarked.

Justin stuck his tongue out and straightened his posture. "Okay, here goes." He made a motion like he was walking down a flight of stairs until he was crouched behind the sofa for a moment and then popped up. "There!"

Brian was glad he'd swallowed the food in his mouth before Justin began, otherwise they'd be all over their notes and laptops. "That was fucking great," he burst out laughing. It wasn't the funniest thing in the world, but it was pretty surprising. Brian hadn't ever actually known anyone that could do that. "Do you know the elevator too?"

Justin nodded enthusiastically and then showed Brian.

"The escalator?" Brian called out.

Justin performed the move, nearly falling on his face at the end. "That's all for tonight," he said. "I'm getting woozy from all the wine."

"I think we're done for the night then," Brian declared.

"But we barely have any ideas written down," Justin protested, walking back over to the futon.

"We'll work on it tomorrow. Help me clean up and I'll open another bottle of wine."

"I can't drink any more, Brian."

Tipsy, Brian had no idea how perfect his look of disappointment came across to Justin.

Justin sighed. "Well, I guess I could just call a cab and get my car tomorrow."

Brian smiled. "It was your idea to get two bottles of this shit."

§ § § § §

Justin waved at his mother as she walked into the restaurant and spotted him over by the windows. As she reached the table he stood to greet her with a hug and a peck on the cheek. "I thought you were bringing Molly," he commented as they took their seats.

Jennifer took off her jacket and placed it on the back of her chair while she took a deep breath. "She's not very happy with me."

Justin immediately noticed the huge ring on his mother's finger as she clasped her hands on the table top. "Mom!" he gasped, having no idea what else to say. "Mom…"

"Tucker asked me to marry him on my birthday. We went to buy the ring last night." Jennifer blushed and hesitated a moment before holding her hand out to Justin.

Justin held his mother's hand and inspected the large diamond, surprised that a school teacher could afford such a lavish engagement ring. "Are you happy?"

"Happier than I've been in years," Jennifer said twirling the ring once Justin released her hand. "He's been saving for a long time for this."

Justin gave his mother a genuine smile. "I'm happy for you, Mom. Congratulations."

Jennifer laughed. "I thought you'd take the same position as Molly."

"I might've had trouble accepting Tucker at first," Justin admitted. "But unlike Molly, I know who Dad was and I don't have him on a pedestal. I certainly don't think that you should spend the rest of your life pining for him."

"Thank you, Justin. Now, enough about me tell me about your job. How is it going? Is that woman, Anna, still being a bitch?"

§ § § § §

The moment the door of Justin's SUV was closed he dialed Daphne's cell phone number

"Hey," Daphne greeted. "What are you doing?"

"Sitting in my car," Justin answered. "You?"

"In the hospital cafeteria eating lunch. What's up?"

"My mom is getting remarried!" Justin announced.

"I was wondering when Tucker would get off his ass and finally ask her," Daphne commented.

"Molly's pissed of course; she won't even talk to Mom."

"She's not a little kid anymore; you two should just tell her the truth about Craig. Then she probably wouldn't be so sour about your mom marrying someone actually who treats her right and loves her."

"The question is, why am _I_ sour about it?" Justin asked. "I still haven't shed a tear for Craig, it's not like I want my mom to forever carry a torch for him, so why am I freaking about her getting remarried?"

"Justin, you shed plenty of tears for your mom and sister, they were enough," Daphne told him gently. "You're worried and you want to protect your mom. No matter how perfect Tucker or any man could be for her, you want to be the only man in your mom's life because you know you won't hurt her."

Justin's mouth hung open for a moment before he could speak. "What are you suddenly studying to be psychologist?"

Daphne laughed. "Sorry honey, I just your best friend and I've known you since kindergarten so it gives me special insight to you."

"I love you."

"I know you do and I bet once they're married you'll stop freaking out."

"You sure about that?"

"Yup. So, has she set a date yet?"

"Yes, she's already got the church booked for June 21st. You'll be getting an invite."

"Justin," Daphne said his name slowly.

"What?" Justin whined. He could tell by the tone of her voice that Daphne was about to bail on the wedding.

"That's during the time that I'll be in California for the Pediatric Infectious Disease Conference," she mumbled.

"That totally sucks," Justin whined. "I was hoping the wedding would be a good excuse for you to come see me again."

"You could come and see me too," Daphne pointed out.

"It's different when you come here; you know a whole bunch of people you can visit while I'm working. I don't know anyone in Philly and you're almost always on call or at school. I'd probably never see you."

"Yeah, I guess you're right. I'll come see you as soon as I can unless you make it out here first."

"My mom's going to be really disappointed that you're not coming."

"She'll probably be so caught up with Tucker and the other guests she won't even know if I'm not there."

"Oh yes, she will," Justin assured. "She made me promise that you and I would dance together."

"All that money wasted on dance lessons," Daphne mused. "Did our parents actually think we'd become ballroom dancers?"

"Until I sprained my ankle falling down our basement stairs," Justin replied, laughing at the memories. "And then you conveniently broke your arm right when I got better."

"You always act like I wanted Kimmie Lawrence to unhook my legs from the bar on the jungle gym!"

"Daphne, how many times did you flip off that thing and land perfectly fine?" Justin teased.

"I'm so not spending my lunch break talking about this," Daphne spoke in a warning tone but started giggling. "I didn't do it on purpose, but I'm not sorry we got out of those dance classes."

"Only to be stuck in Mister and Miss courses," Justin groaned. "I don't know what was worse."

"I hate thinking about that stuff. Our parents really had no idea how to just let us be kids."

"Molly has no idea how lucky she has it. Mom is so different now that she doesn't have someone around dictating every move she makes." Justin got a sick feeling in his gut and needed to change the subject. "So, tell me about that hot doctor you pretend you're not interested in."

"Speak of the extremely hot devil," Daphne whispered.

"Did he walk into the cafeteria?" Justin asked.

Daphne gulped loudly. "Yes, and he's heading this way. I'll call you later."

"Bye, Daphne. Good luck and say yes if he asks you out!"

§ § § § §

"You know, this isn't fair," Justin told Brian as he carried the pizza they'd ordered over to bar.

Brian came out of the bedroom now dressed in an outfit Justin had seen him wear many times; faded blue jeans and a white v-neck tee. "What isn't fair?"

"This is like the sixth time we've brought work home, but we've come to your place. You get to get all nice and comfy while I practically freeze and hope I don't get food on my good clothes."

"It's not freezing in here," Brian defended but checked the thermostat anyway. "It's seventy degrees."

"And its April and for some reason it's snowing outside." Justin pulled his suit coat tighter around him.

"The reason is global warming," Brian replied, as if Justin didn't know.

Justin was sick of hearing about global warming and every other thing that had to do with the environment. All Eric talked about since being given his award last month had to do with the environment and how he could continue the fight for a cleaner Earth. Thankfully, Brian mentioning it was just a fluke. "I just don't know how you walk around here barefoot," Justin bitched. "I bet your toes have frostbite."

Brian ran his foot up the inside of Justin's leg, coming dangerously close to touching his crotch. He cleared his throat and stepped away from his employee. "They're warm."

Justin gulped and turned away from Brian to open the box of pizza. "Whatever you say, Brian."

"Well, what do you want me say?" Brian asked, growing annoyed at Justin's tangent.

"It isn't fair that we always come here to work."

"Well it's not like you've ever suggested that we go to your place. Why is that? Would Arron get jealous?"

Justin grabbed a slice of pizza and elbowed Brian as he did. "**Eric** and I have our own groups of friends. He doesn't tell me when I invite friends over to my apartment and I don't care who he has at his."

Brian refrained from saying anything about Justin calling them friends. "So the next time we decide we'd rather work at home, we'll go to your place. As long as you promise you have heat, running water and cable internet."

"I do," Justin laughed. "Just so you know; I'm holding you to it."

"Whatever." Brian grabbed himself some pizza on a paper plate and took it over to sofa. "I'm going to trust you to not spill anything," he warned Justin as he sat beside him.

Justin mocked Brian by pretending to drop his plate. "Don't worry; I've had table manners for awhile now."

Brian chuckled. "I bet you learned them at that private academy you attended, didn't you?"

"No," Justin grumbled. "My mother made me take a Misters course at the country club."

Brian almost choked on his bite of pizza. "What the fuck is a Misters course?"

Justin felt himself blushing with embarrassment but he explained the manners course to Brian anyway. The whole time, Brian paid attention to what he was saying without interrupting him, for once and it freaked him out. "Did I blow your mind or something? No remarks? You're not even tempted to make fun of me?"

Brian shook his head. "I'm still trying to process that they actually have these courses in this day and age."

"Chivalry isn't dead." Justin spoke with a mouthful of food, "Or so my mother tells me."

"Oh yeah, I'm sure she'd be proud to see you talking about manners with your mouth stuffed."

"Vuk you," Justin griped and swallowed. "I'll have you know, my mother is very proud of me."

"What about your dad?" Brian closed his mouth tight the moment he asked. It wasn't his character to ask anyone, especially an employee about his family, it's not like he cared.

Justin looked down at his plate. "My father's dead. He died a few weeks into my senior year."

This was exactly why Brian never asked about family. He had no idea what to say next. "Your senior year at CMU?" he asked, finally figuring out something to say, though wishing like hell he could drop the conversation.

Justin shook his head. "High School. A drunk driver hit him as he was coming home late one night."

Brian tried to read Justin's expression, but it was completely blank. "That must have been hard for you." Brian thought that he sounded like a lame ass shrink with that remark but Justin didn't seem to care.

"Yeah. It really devastated my mom and my little sister. Especially because afterward we found out that Dad wasn't at work, he'd been cheating on my mom and was coming home from his secretary's house. If he hadn't been cheating on my mom, he wouldn't have had any reason to be on the street where he was killed."

"Fuck."

"Yeah. Life sucks." Justin took a long drink of his beer. "You know what's really sucks?"

Brian couldn't imagine what the fuck Justin was going to say so he just shrugged his shoulders and asked, "What?"

"The guy that hit him, his name is Kip Thomas. I mean, what kind of name is that? Kip Thomas. It sounds like a kid's name and now whenever I think of my dad that fucker's name is tied to him forever."

Brian's eyes widened. "Kip Thomas?" he asked slowly and counted back the time in his head.

"Yeah, who in the fuck names their kid Kip? It pretty much guarantees that they're going to act like a child for the rest of their life. He was out joyriding after he left a bar or something and was just over the legal limit. He ran a stop sign, plowed his truck into my dad's suburban and that was that."

"That guy, Kip Thomas, I sort of knew him," Brian revealed.

"What?" Justin gasped. "Don't tell me you two…"

"No," Brian interrupted. "I remember when my boss, Ryder told me about what Kip did. He'd just gotten hired at the agency maybe a month or so before. He tried to get us to testify for his character."

"Did you?" Justin asked.

"Of course not," Brian said. "Ryder wasn't going to let him drag the agency into it. We barely knew him."

"Small world," Justin commented. "It's bizarre how things work out. The night of the accident I was over at Daphne's and we were waiting for her parents to fall asleep so she could sneak out and drop me off on Liberty Avenue. I hadn't ever been there before and I'd been working up the courage to go there for weeks. Daphne's house phone rang as soon as I got ready. Her mom was so upset when she came to tell us that she didn't even notice that Daphne and I had changed out of our pajamas. I knew my dad would flip out when he found out I was gay; he wanted me to marry Daphne, go to business school and take over his business. If my Dad hadn't died and I didn't get a share of the civil lawsuit settlement, I probably wouldn't have been able to go to the school I wanted and I probably wouldn't be working for a guy who once worked with the guy that killed him."

Brian had to agree that when Justin said it all like that, it definitely made life seem bizarre. He saw Justin's plate shaking in his hands and placed Justin's and his own on the coffee table. "You okay?" he asked, feeling extremely awkward.

Justin couldn't move or talk, he was trying hard not to start crying. It had been years since he talked about the details and repercussions of his father's death with anyone and he was embarrassed that after all this time he'd actually feel the need to cry for him.

"Come here," Brian whispered. Not knowing what else to do, he pulled Justin close and held him, though the embrace was at first stiff and awkward, Justin soon settled against him.

Justin didn't cry, but he let his emotions ebb and flow within him and took comfort in Brian's embrace. "It's stupid, getting so upset over a man who hated me," he mumbled against Brian's shoulder. "I'm sure he had his suspicions, but he didn't know I was gay, he hated that I never lived up to his expectations. He barely knew me, but he hated me."

"My dad's dead and he hated me too," Brian confessed emotionlessly.

Justin pulled back from Brian and wiped his watery eyes. "Because you're gay?" he asked.

"No." Brian felt his skin crawling with unwanted recollections. "So what are your ideas for the lozenges ad?"

Justin could tell that Brian needed to change the subject and whatever he'd been talking about had hit home for him. Brian so rarely talked about emotions or showed any kind of weakness to anyone. Justin was sure that like himself, Brian hid his feelings and rarely trusted anyone with them. He grabbed his messenger bag from the floor, opened it up and grabbed out his work pad. "I've sketched out a few things all ready."

§ § § § §

Author's Note: I made an Image Map with pictures of Justin's Apartment Click Here To See It

Justin unlocked his door and walked inside his apartment. "So this is it," he announced. "Well the kitchen anyway."

Brian hesitantly looked around the galley kitchen. The table and chairs weren't too bad, but the paint color on the wall was terrible. "That paint color is terrible and it does nothing for your paintings."

Justin shrugged and grabbed a beer from the fridge. "You want one?"

"Yeah," Brian answered and grabbed the beer from Justin. "Seriously, you need to repaint that."

"I don't have the time," Justin said. "I'd rather paint canvas. The color was here when I moved in and I don't think it looks bad."

Brian was curious to see the rest of Justin's apartment if this was how it started off. Especially because Justin had ribbed on his loft the first time he'd seen it. "So show me around," he said, placing his briefcase on the kitchen table.

"It's not much," Justin said, walking down the hall. "I got the corner unit though and my balcony is bigger than everyone else's."

"The paint color in here isn't much better," Brian groaned.

"Yeah, thanks," Justin said sarcastically. "I was trying to match the paint color in the kitchen. Blame Home Depot."

Brian walked past the dining set, which he couldn't complain about and took in Justin's furniture. "That sofa looks like something that should be in your mother's house."

Justin laughed. "Actually, it was. But it was free and it pulls out into sofa bed so I'm not complaining."

"Who do you need a sofa bed for?" Brian asked, milling about the room. Justin had a decent view of the park but he noticed that the balcony faced the parking lot for his building.

"You are so nosey," Justin said, hitting Brian's shoulder. "Daphne stays here when she visits."

Brian picked up a framed photo from beside the television. "So this is him? I thought he'd be older."

"Brian, that picture is really old. It was taken on our first date."

Brian was not jealous that Justin looked as though he hadn't aged at all. Nope. "Aww. How romantic. Let me guess, you two were roommates at CMU?"

"Don't be ridiculous. I met him at a stupid frat party Daphne forced me to go to. He was a virgin, actually." Justin smiled at the memory of the first time he fucked Eric on top of all the breeders' coats.

"That's even sweeter," Brian teased. "What about you? Were you a virgin?"

"These really aren't questions that a boss should be asking their employee," Justin teased back.

Brian ignored that. "So I take that as a yes."

"That'd be a no," Justin told him. "I'd fucked a couple guys before that."

Brian licked his lips as he imagined Justin taking Eric's virginity. He quickly placed the photo down and cleared his throat. "So, show me the rest of your apartment and then we can get started on the Celestial ad."

"You only want me to show you so that you can make fun of me," Justin acknowledged.

Brian didn't deny it and smiled evilly behind Justin's back as he followed behind him.

"Obviously this is my bedroom," Justin rambled. "I had to repaint everything myself because I needed contrast for when I am painting. Different colors change how the light is absorbed in the room so I usually paint in here in the afternoons or after work. Otherwise I'm in the living room in front of my windows."

"This is nice," Brian admitted. He refrained from commenting about how much he hated the lockers Justin obviously used to store some of his clothing. However the red dresser on the opposite side of the room which matched the cabinets of Justin's desk area got his seal of approval. Justin had taste, Brian decided, he just strayed sometimes. "It's almost stylish."

Justin rolled his eyes at Brian's semi-compliment. "Over here is the bathroom. It's the reason I bought this place."

Brian walked behind Justin and nearly fainted when he saw the cramped quarters and the horrendous tile work. "I can't believe I hired you to be Exhibition's Art Director!" Brian said, unable to keep quiet. "It looks like Tommy Hilfiger chewed the labels off his clothing line and threw up in here. And that tub… that tub is…"

Justin angrily pulled Brian out of the bathroom and closed the door. "That bath tub is awesome and I love the tile work. It's unique."

"Unique? You could hang a Norman Rockwell painting in there and call it a day!" Brian berated. "I'll be afraid to use it. Surely that isn't the only bathroom."

Justin laughed and beckoned Brian to follow him out of the room. When they stood just outside the bedroom Justin halted him and pointed down the hall. "Where exactly would another bathroom be Brian?" he asked, walking back toward the kitchen.

Brian followed Justin, grabbing the beer he'd abandoned on the kitchen table and taking a long swig.

"Are you trying to get drunk so we can't finish the project?" Justin asked seriously.

"No," Brian retorted. "I'm going to need to be buzzed so that when I do have to piss, I'll be so focused on aiming into the toilet that I don't notice the American flag bathroom."

"I'm so glad I brought you here," Justin bitched, guzzling drinking his own beer. "You know, at my age, I doubt you had an apartment that looked this good."

Brian couldn't deny that Justin was right about that. "Nope, cause I was saving so that in a few years I could afford what I have now."

"I knew that it reminded me of the 90's and now I know why!" Justin exclaimed. "You kept all your décor the same since you moved in there almost twenty years ago!"

"Fuck you," Brian growled.

Justin felt his body heat up in reaction to Brian's words and the predatory glare he pinned on him.

Growing tired of the sexual tension that would go absolutely nowhere, Brian made for the fridge and grabbed a fresh beer. "So how did you afford this place, anyway?"

"What money didn't go to paying for school from the settlement I coupled with some money I made selling a few paintings at the Emerging Artists show at Lindsay's gallery a few years back," Justin explained as they walked back into the living room.

Brian took a seat in the red chair, testing it out before settling into it.

Justin noticed Brian's behavior and told him, "It's not going to swallow you, Brian."

Brian glared like the five-year-old child he felt like he was whenever Justin used what he silently referred to as his 'mommy' voice.

§ § § § §

"Everyone in the art department thinks we're fucking," Justin told Brian as they walked into the Liberty Diner.

Brian laughed. "Not that _I've_ ever met him, but don't they know you have a boyfriend?"

Justin followed Brian toward an empty booth and sat opposite him. "You've never met Eric because you high-tail it out of my apartment whenever he calls to tell me he's coming over."

"I don't high-tail it anywhere," Brian groused. "It's polite not to impede upon your personal time."

"Have you forgotten that Saturday you woke me up in the middle of the night and demanded that I sketch out your idea for that fucking knife ad?"

"You were snoring on my couch and I couldn't sleep. Either way, I had to wake you up," Brian defended.

Justin bristled. "I don't snore and I'm a little bit bothered that you were awake thinking about knives with me in the next room."

"Yeah, killing you was my only other option of getting you to stop making that horrible sound while you make when you snore." Brian smirked and imitated a loud honking noise. "You do that when you pass out from smoking pot."

"Whatever." Justin grabbed a menu from beside him and started flipping through it. "I do not."

"It's true," Brian assured. "That was the third time I heard you do it and it's always after you get too high."

"Well then you shouldn't ploy me with weed, thinking it will make me creative long after my bedtime. By the way, my earlier point was that you don't care about impeding on my personal time. I think we can agree that sleep is personal time no matter where it occurs."

Debbie came out of the kitchen, spotted Brian and immediately made her way over to him. "Hi, Brian," she greeted him but her eyes were on Justin. "And you are?"

"Uhmm…"

"Justin, this is Debbie. She's my best friend Michael's Mom. Ma, this is Justin Taylor, he's the Art Director at Exhibition," Brian introduced. "Can I get some coffee and a BLT?"

"Nice to meet you, Debbie," Justin said, smiling.

"You too, Sunshine. Be sure he doesn't work you too hard."

"He doesn't," Justin said, half lying. There were days that Brian scheduled after work, work hours that Justin wished he could turn down.

"And what about you, Justin?"

"Uhm, I'll have the tuna melt and a coke," Justin ordered. "Can I have seasoned fries with that too?"

"Sure. Anything else?"

"No thank you," Justin replied.

Debbie used her body to scoot Brian over in the booth seat. "So, Justin. Where you from?"

"I'm from Pittsburgh," Justin answered.

"Do you have a boyfriend?" Debbie pressed. "Cause if ya don't, I'm sure…"

"Debbie, we only have _one_ lunch hour," Brian said testily.

"Don't be rude," Deb chastised Brian as she stood beside the booth glaring at him. "I'll go put in your order and get your drinks."

When Debbie was far enough away Justin leaned over the table and asked, "Do you come here often?"

Brian laughed at Justin's question which sounded like a cheesy pick up line. "Yeah, this is usually where I go for lunch with my friends."

"So we're friends now?" Justin implored.

"You're annoying," Brian said. "You over think everything."

"I just like to know where I stand with people, especially my boss."

"What does that have to do with anything? It's not like I'm going to give you special treatment at work because we're friends."

"I wouldn't expect any. It's just that there are certain things you don't tell your boss but you do tell your friends. It's weird."

"You're weird."

Debbie arrived back at the booth carrying Brian and Justin's drinks and placed them in front of them. "Your food should be out shortly, we've been slow all day."

"Thanks," Brian said, giving Debbie a real smile.

Debbie made a move to ruffle Brian's hair but his grimace stopped her hand and she patted his cheek instead before walking away.

For a split-second, Justin saw Brian's cheeks flush with boyish embarrassment. "So how long have you known Michael and Debbie?"

"Since I was fourteen."

"Is Michael going to be here for lunch too?"

"No, he and his partner Ben are on vacation."

"What about your other friends, you said you meet them for lunch here?"

Brian checked his watch. "It's still too early for Emmett and Ted's back at the office fixing some fuck-up for the Brown account."

"Ted Schmidt?" Justin asked. He knew that he and Brian had a mutual respect for one another, but he definitely wouldn't have pegged them as friends. "You guys are friends?"

"Yes and yes. It is possible and perfectly acceptable to be friends with your employees."

"I guess," Justin grumbled.

Brian really was extremely annoyed at Justin's insistence about how absolutely wrong it would be if they were friends. He didn't care less if Justin was his friend or not, he was perfectly annoyed with the ones he had. Brian decided that if Justin was going to be a shit about it, he'd just treat him the exact same way he treated each and every other employee outside of the office.

§ § § § §

Eric kept Justin's come in his mouth as he climbed up on his lap and shared it with him in a deep kiss. Realizing that Justin was barely partaking in the kiss he pulled away and sat on the couch beside him. "What's wrong with you?"

Justin tucked himself back inside his underwear and zipped up his jeans. "Nothing."

"Now that you've settled into your job and aren't working or out fucking late every night I thought you'd be more relaxed." Eric massaged Justin's left shoulder. "I just gave you a blowjob and you're tenser than you were before I gave it to you."

"I'm just tired."

"It's Saturday," Eric groused. "You slept until noon."

"Are you trying to pick a fight with me?" Justin asked, getting up from the couch. He grabbed the jacket off the back of it and put it on.

"Don't leave." Eric hopped over the back of the couch and blocked Justin's way to the door. "I don't want to fight. I'm worried about you."

"I'm fine," Justin insisted, knowing he was lying.

"Not that I'm complaining, but you've been coming over here every day after work for the last two weeks."

"Well if I'm crowding your space…" Justin made a move to pass Eric but his boyfriend stopped him.

"I told you, I wasn't complaining. You know you're welcome to come over whenever you want." Eric held Justin's hands in his own. "Tell me what's going on. If I didn't know you so well I'd say that you're depressed."

"I'm not depressed." Justin dropped Eric's hands and took off his jacket. "You want to do the rest?" he asked, holding his arms out.

Eric licked his lips and nodded as he began to unbutton Justin's blue dress shirt. He knew that there was something going on with his boyfriend, but he was confident that Justin would talk to him about it when he was ready.

§ § § § §

Justin poked his head around Brian's half-open office door. "Wanna get lunch?"

Brian shook his head and looked back down at his laptop, half expecting Justin to leave.

"Do you want me to pick you up something?" Justin asked, walking in.

"That's not in your job description."

"Obviously." Justin hated that Brian's behavior caused him to feel nervous whenever he was in his presence the last couple of weeks.

"You better go before your lunch hour is up. We've got a meeting with Locke at 2:00," Brian advised, barely acknowledging that Justin had walked into the office. He knew exactly what he was doing and it amused him to no end.

Justin bit his lip, refraining from asking Brian what the fuck had crawled up his ass and taken residence there the last couple of weeks. He was trying to be friendly, offering to get Brian something for lunch but obviously the man had developed PMS. "I'm trying to be a good friend and make sure you eat, Brian."

Brian's head popped up and he met Justin's eyes with a curious stare. "We're friends now?" he asked in a genuinely surprised tone.

"Uh… other than like the first month I worked here and the last couple of weeks that you've been acting like an ass."

"Look, I'm not interested in being 'your friend' if you've got some crazy rule about it. I wouldn't want you to sacrifice your morals for me," Brian snapped. "I guess."

The last words Brian spoke brought Justin to clarity. He had been an asshole, especially because truth be told, Justin didn't really have any other friends besides Daphne and Eric and Brian had been a good one to him. He'd let his idiotic rules get in the way and had obviously hurt Brian. He was not only surprised that Brian cared, but that he cared too. He knew he'd have to play it off as though he didn't realize how much Brian cared, he knew Brian.

"I probably shouldn't be telling you this, because you're my boss. But since you're my friend too, which for the record I am glad to say you are, so I'll say it anyway. I can be the stupidest person on the planet, Brian. Sometimes I have no idea why you even decided to hire such a dumb twit like myself."

Brian began laughing at Justin's dramatic self-hate. "All right, Sunshine." He stood up and checked his watch. "Hurry up, just cause you're friends with the boss doesn't mean you can be late coming back from break."

§ § § § §

"What are you doing here?" Brian asked as Justin let himself into the loft.

They'd exchanged keys under the pretense that when they had late nights or stayed on the couch at each other's places, they'd be able to lock up when they left.

Justin stopped in the doorway, confused. "Uh, yesterday you said that now that I have a key I could just come in."

Brian nodded from where he was at the counter, making two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

"Are you expecting someone?" Justin asked, closing the loft door behind him.

"Gus is coming," Brian answered.

"Well I can go," Justin offered, though he would like to see Gus. It'd been months since he'd seen the little boy and he also wanted to see Brian with him.

"No, no. I'd rather you stay. I'm sure Melanie and Lindsay would rather you stay too."

"They know that you're perfectly capable of watching your son," Justin told him. "If you want to be alone with your son…"

"I promised Gus I'd take him to the park today. You can tag a long and then I'll at least have someone to talk to when he goes to play."

Justin heard the pleading in Brian's voice and agreed. "All right. But you'll have to make me one of those sandwiches too."

Brian reached for the bread bag and pulled two more slices out. "Grape or Strawberry?" he asked.

"Strawberry, I'd choose strawberry over any flavor."

The buzzer for the loft rang. "Would you get that?" Brian asked Justin.

"Sure," Justin said, excited to see Brian's interaction with Gus. No, he would not dwell on why exactly that was.

Tbc...


	5. May

[ ](http://galeandrandy.livejournal.com/153868.html)

  
**May**

_My work is a game. A very serious game.-M.C. Escher_

 

"Thanks for inviting us," Justin said, hugging Lindsay and then Melanie.

Eric took his turn hugging both women and then sniffed the air. "Something smells amazing."

"That's the oatmeal cookies for dessert," Lindsay replied, leading them into the living room. "Jenny helped make them."

"Where are Jenny and Gus?" Justin asked.

"Gus' first soccer practice was today," Mel explained. "Brian should be dropping him off in a few minutes. Jenny is staying at Michael's tonight."

"So I get to finally meet the infamous Brian Kinney?" Eric asked, wrapping his arm around Justin.

"You're actually looking forward to it?" Melanie asked, surprised.

"I'd just like to meet the man who constantly takes up my partner's time," Eric said, his tone hinting at jealousy. "And who is the subject of most of the gossip I heard while in college."

Justin shifted in his seat and took Eric's arm off his shoulders. "I'm hot," he explained. "It's eighty-nine degrees outside but Eric refuses to turn on the air conditioning in his car." Had Justin known this would be the case he would've driven his own car separately.

"You know my rules on that, Justin," Eric reminded. "It has to be ninety-degrees before I'll turn it on."

Justin rolled his eyes. "It was one degree off, ninety. I'm sure your environmental heart could've taken turning it on. Besides, rules are meant to be broken."

"Sorry," Eric said genuinely, surprised to see Justin get so upset in front of the two women.

"Don't worry about it." Justin stood up abruptly. "Lindsay, can I use the restroom?"

"Of course," she replied, uncomfortable for the two men. "You know where it is."

"Thanks." Justin quickly left the living room and took the stairs two at a time.

Justin pissed and was in the process of zipping his pants up when he heard Brian and Gus' voices as they came inside. Justin looked in the mirror and noticed he was grimacing. He wasn't looking forward to being in the same room with both Eric and Brian but didn't know exactly why that was.

Unnerved, Justin made his way back downstairs. The moment he hit the last step, Gus came running down the hall and slammed him into a hug, nearly knocking Justin on his ass.

"Justin!"

"Hey buddy!"

Gus shoved a large toy airplane out to Justin. "Look what my dad got me!"

"That's cool," Justin said enthusiastically.

"Come on, Mommy said dinner's ready." Gus pulled Justin down the hall into the dining room. "And Daddy's staying for dinner too."

Justin halted at the end of the large wooden dining table. Gus took his seat and Justin had to force himself to smile when he saw he would be sitting between Brian and Eric.

Brian gave Justin a nod. "Hey."

"I hope you like avocado tacos, Justin," Lindsay said. "When I saw Eric at the market and invited you two for dinner he suggested it. He said that he often makes it for you both."

Justin hated Eric's vegetarian dishes, but he wasn't about to be rude. "Yeah, he eats it all the time."

"Not all the time," Eric said. "Just about once a week."

"I think it's a great recipe," Melanie told him. "I'm glad you turned us on to it."

"Come on Mel, no one here needs to know what turns you on," Brian groaned.

"Brian!" Lindsay admonished.

"This is gross!" Gus whined.

"See, my son agrees with me," Brian said.

"He was talking about the food," Mel retorted. "And it's not gross, Gus."

"I don't want to eat to it, Mama."

Justin snickered. He didn't want to eat it either. He looked at Brian's plate and saw that he hadn't touched his taco.

"You have to eat it," Lindsay said gently. "Just try a bite."

"Next time Gus, I'll make sure I suggest pizza," Eric said, feeling bad that he'd suggested such an adult dish.

"Okay." Gus pouted but listened and took a bite of his food.

Justin figured that if Gus was going to force himself to eat it, he'd have to do the same. Surprisingly it tasted much better than Eric's ever did.

"You too, Dad," Gus prompted Brian to eat.

Brian sighed in resignation and took a bite. "It's actually good," he commented. "So you do the cooking, Eric?" Brian teased.

Justin rolled his eyes. "You know I cook too," he told him.

"Justin and I cook together," Eric spoke with pride.

"Mel and I love to do that too," Lindsay added.

"Aww. You guys are so 'couplely'," Brian sing-songed.

Justin stuck his food laden tongue out at Brian.

As disgusting as half-chewed black beans, peppers and avocado looked on Justin's tongue, it didn't stop Brian from wanting to kiss Justin. The only thing that did was Eric getting there first. Brian garnered all his years of cock sucking and expertly suppressed his gag reflex.

§ § § § §

Brian kissed Gus' forehead. "Go right to bed or your moms will think I shoved candy down your throat all day."

"But you did let me have lots," Gus whispered.

Already a smart ass, Brian thought. "Goodnight, Gus."

"I don't want to go to bed. It's isn't even a school night."

Brian felt for his son, it _was_ only seven o'clock. "How about I read you a book before bed?"

"You're gonna read me a story?" Gus asked, sounding as though the concept was foreign to him. It was, at least at home. Gus thought his Daddy was shy whenever he came over to his house because he acted a lot different toward him when they were at the loft.

"Yeah," Brian walked over to the bookshelf and grabbed the thinnest Golden Book he could find. "How about this one?"

"Jenny likes that one," Gus told his father.

Brian turned toward the shelf to choose another book. "Okay then…"

"But I like it too, Dad," Gus quickly said, afraid that Brian wouldn't read to him.

"All right," Brian agreed, sitting down on the bed. "'The Poky Little Puppy' it is."

Gus only half listened to his father reading because he started to think about how his father looked at Eric all night. Eric had always been nice to Gus the few times that he met him before, but he got to feeling that his dad didn't like him.

"The End." Brian closed the book and kissed Gus' cheek. "Now it's really time for bed."

Gus was nervous but he knew he had to ask Brian before he left, otherwise he might forget and he didn't want Justin to be friends with Eric if he was bad. "Is Eric a bad man, Dad?"

Brian coughed, "What?"

"Is Eric a bad man?" Gus repeated.

"Why do you think he's a bad man, Gus?" Brian asked worriedly.

"You don't like him," Gus stated. "Do you?"

"Do you like him?" Brian asked.

Gus shrugged. "If you do."

Brian sighed. "Is Eric ever mean to you?"

"He made Mommy cook nasty food," Gus huffed.

Brian chuckled. "It wasn't that bad. But besides that, has he ever been mean to you?"

"No."

"Then there's no reason for you not to like him."

"But if you don't like him than I don't want to like him and I don't want Justin to be his friend if you don't like him."

Brian wasn't sure where to go from there. It seemed perfectly logical to him too. "Well, why do you think I don't like Eric?"

"Cause you kept pretending his name was Aaron and you looked mad at him all the time."

"I was teasing him when I called him Aaron." Brian hated to lie to his son but he really wasn't sure he had a choice. "And I was a little mad at him for giving Mommy that taco recipe. But don't tell anyone, okay?"

"I won't," Gus promised, leaning up to give Brian a hug. "Goodnight, Dada."

"Goodnight Gus," Brian replied, laying Gus down. He fixed Gus' covers and made sure his night-light was on before turning off the lamp and leaving the room.

Brian was surprised to only find Justin, Lindsay and Melanie sitting in the living room. "Where's your boyfriend?" he asked Justin.

"He had to go home early," Justin replied. "He doesn't like to get off his school schedule on the weekends."

"How responsible of him," Brian spoke dryly. He grabbed the last oatmeal cookie and stuck it in his mouth.

"Is Gus asleep?" Melanie asked.

"He will be soon," Brian told her, spitting cookie crumbs on the floor.

"Napkin," Lindsay said, shoving one at the man.

Justin stood up. "Brian, we took Eric's car here. I figured you'd be going to Woody's and Babylon, do you mind if I tag along with you?"

"We're going back to your place first so you can change."

"What's wrong with what Justin's wearing?" Melanie asked, trying to defend her friend.

Justin looked down at his clothes and repeated Melanie's question. "Yeah, what's wrong with what I'm wearing?"

"You look like your boyfriend dressed you," Brian stated.

Justin wasn't going to tell Brian that in a matter of speaking Eric had dressed him. He'd bought him the outfit for his birthday. "Whatever."

Brian saw Justin's blushing face and knew he'd hit the nail on the head. "So he did dress you?"

"Fuck you," Justin growled.

§ § § § §

After a few drinks at Woody's and a few more at Babylon, Brian and Justin found themselves fucking the newest arrivals to Gay PA.

Justin's jeans were around his ankles and his shirt was somewhere on the floor. He had his muscle-stud bent over the arm of a couch in the VIP room and was plowing his ass at a fevered pace. Brian was sitting on the couch, his shirt unbuttoned and his legs splayed while his noisy trick rode his cock.

Justin was always extra horny when he smoked pot, which he and Brian had done in his office before coming out and picking out their tricks. He blamed his urgent need to watch Brian on the marijuana. It was the only explanation for his heightened arousal and the desperate need to come he felt every single time Brian would softly moan or grunt. Justin rarely heard Brian express his pleasure when he fucked or got his dick sucked. Maybe the music in the VIP room was usually louder or something, because this time, Justin heard every single noise Brian made.

The annoying loud trick on top of Brian, whose 'Oh yeahs' would drown out Brian sometimes, started to stare at Justin while jacked his cock. "Can I have a round with your boyfriend when he's done?" he asked Brian, loud enough for Justin to hear.

"You haven't even gotten through this fuck and you already want him to fuck you?" Brian asked, looking over at Justin.

The trick being pounded by Justin responded to Brian, "I'd love to switch it up and have some of you."

The whole situation was too weird for Justin and he stalled his fucking motions. "Would you two shut the fuck up?" he barked.

"I'm sorry," Brian's annoying trick apologized, speeding up his riding motion. "It's just that you two are the hottest couple in the place."

Brian laughed. "Yeah, we know."

Justin took that to mean that Brian was saying he knew the two of them were the hottest men in Babylon. He knew that. But it bothered him that Brian had two opportunities to deny that they were boyfriends, that they were a couple and yet he hadn't said a word. But Justin realized that he hadn't either.

Frustrated with himself and with Brian's long drawn-out moan that Justin knew was signaling his quickly coming orgasm, Justin began to fuck his trick faster than before. He closed his eyes and listened to the trick underneath him moaning and begging for his cock. He didn't imagine that it was Brian's ass he was fucking. Brian's deep groan as he came didn't replace his trick's groan and it certainly did not cause his orgasm to come on with more intensity than he was prepared for.

§ § § § §

Brian was late to work; he was supposed to be in a meeting with Ted going over his investment options but he made his way into Justin's office first. He set his briefcase down and held up the drink tray. "I figured that since we didn't drive together you probably didn't stop to get one of these."

"Oh, thank you," Justin said standing up from his desk wearily. "You're a lifesaver." He took the cappuccino Brian indicated was his and drank a healthy gulp. He looked up at Brian and teased, "You know the only reason I spend five bucks on coffee is because you're a bad influence on me."

Brian got a good look at Justin and hated the immediate concern that exploded out of his mouth, "Are you sick?"

"No," Justin assured. "I'm only exhausted."

"I thought you were having dinner with your Mommy? What happened, did you make a pit stop at Aaron's before going home?"

"No, I didn't see **Eric**. We went shopping all day; mind you I had a hangover from hell when I left the loft yesterday morning. Then, we went back to my mom's and I helped her make dinner. Afterward, she insisted on me helping her write out her fucking invitations."

Brian laughed. "Why didn't she just have them printed out?"

"She wanted them to be personalized," Justin whined, slumping back into his chair. "My hand is cramping up and I don't know how I'm going to get the design done for the Wax Wave account."

"Personal would mean she was the only one writing them out," Brian said, walking around Justin's desk. "Why didn't you just tell her no?"

Justin set his cup down and started to massage his right hand. "She knows that at first I didn't like Tucker."

"Tucker?" Brian snickered.

Justin sighed. "Yes, Tucker. I want her to be happy and I don't want her thinking I'm refusing to help because I don't like him and I'm against their marriage or something."

Brian placed his cappuccino beside Justin's and grabbed his hand. He began to massage it and ignored the rising boner he immediately achieved when Justin moaned. "Next time tell her no. Explain to her that your hands are your second best asset and you can't over work them."

Justin grinned. "What's my best asset?" he asked.

Brian dropped Justin's hand, grabbed his cup and briefcase. "If I told you, you might threaten a lawsuit," he answered, leaving Justin's office and closing the door behind him.

Justin smiled to himself, took another drink of his cappuccino and decided that he felt much better than he had a few minutes ago. He wasn't going to dwell on why that was.

§ § § § §

"First Daphne and now you," Justin groaned.

"I'm sorry, Justin. I didn't know that was the weekend of your mom's wedding. If I would've known, I wouldn't have planned on going. The plane ticket is non-refundable."

"It's a great opportunity for you," Justin admitted. "I should've told the date for her wedding sooner."

"I wish I could take you with me," Eric whispered, licking the shell of Justin's ear.

Justin laughed. "No. You really don't."

Eric grinned. "You're right, I don't. You'd hate it there."

"So who are you going with?" Justin asked.

"The three other teachers who also sponsor the Environmental Club and some of the students who just graduated."

"What a senior trip for them," Justin teased. "Most kids go to Mexico or something, but your kids have chosen to go to D.C., sounds like fun!"

Eric rolled his eyes. "You know, if you don't want me to lecture you on the importance about caring for our Earth, then you shouldn't make fun of my passion, Justin."

"I'm sorry," Justin said sincerely, giving his boyfriend a long deep kiss. "You're right."

Eric wasn't convinced of Justin's apology. "You think that all of it's a joke," he said sadly.

"No, I don't," Justin assured.

"You practically fell asleep in your chair during the award ceremony," Eric reminded him.

"You didn't tell me that we'd be watching a three hour movie about conservation efforts, Eric. Even if the narrator's voice wasn't dull, I would've found it hard to stay awake. You know I can't see a movie in a theatre that lasts more than two hours. I always fall asleep."

"Justin…"

"Ask Daphne, she had to wake me up like six times when we saw Titanic. Not even Leo could keep me awake."

Eric shook his head. "See, there you go, turning it into a joke. The movie was something I developed with my students and that was my voice narrating."

Justin gulped. "You didn't tell me that was your voice."

"It wouldn't have mattered if I did," Eric said angered. "You equated it to a meaningless blockbuster."

"Eric, I didn't mean it that way," Justin tried to kiss Eric but he pulled away and stood up from the couch. "You should leave."

Justin bolted upright. "You're kicking me out?"

"I just…." Eric sighed and turned away from Justin. "An old friend is coming over in a few minutes and I'd rather not be here when he gets here."

"Why?" Justin asked, standing up and touching Eric's shoulder.

Eric jerked away from Justin and bluntly stated, "You two wouldn't get along."

"Why is that?"

"Because you smoke, drink, eat red meat and drive a fucking SUV."

"Fuck you." Justin took a step back and asked in a cool voice, "You're embarrassed of me because I'm not a fucking tree hugger?"

"I'm embarrassed that I have a partner who couldn't give a shit about the one thing I'm most passionate about."

Justin stalked past Eric and threw open the front door. He looked back at Eric and said softly, "I should be the one thing that you're the most passionate about. When did that change?"

"It hasn't," Eric answered, but his words were drowned out by the sound of the door slamming behind Justin. "It hasn't," he spoke again, hoping it was true.

§ § § § §

"….and we finished the night off walking around the park in the moonlight. It was so romantic."

"I'm happy for you, Daphne. Steven sounds like a really nice guy," Justin said.

"He is," Daphne said. "But we're taking things slow. Neither one of us have time for anything serious quite yet."

"Well, you tell him that there's a fag in Pittsburgh that'll make a trip up to Philly and kick his ass if he breaks your heart."

"Didn't you just hear what I said?" Daphne asked. "There's no heart breaking that's going to happen. We're not serious."

Justin chuckled. "Daphne. I hate to break it to you, but I think you're in love from one date."

"I…" Daphne stuttered. "Fuck you."

"Been there, done that, never will again," Justin joked. "You have to take a picture with him the next time you go out and send it to me. I'm dying to see what he looks like."

"I will," Daphne promised. "You know that conference I have to go to?"

"Yeah, the one you're missing my mom's wedding for?" Justin mocked a crying voice.

"Steven is going too. His sister lives out there and he wants to take me to meet her."

"You two are so getting married, Daphne. On your first date he already wants to introduce you to his family," Justin teased.

"Just because it was our first date, it wasn't like we haven't talked before," Daphne replied.

"How could I forget about the three hour conversation you two had on the phone about Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman." Justin laughed hard. "I can't believe a black man watched that."

"Ah… Justin. I'm black," Daphne informed him.

"Yeah, but you watched it with your gay best friend."

"And he watched it with his mom and dad, who by the way are both white."

"Steven is white?" Justin gasped. Daphne had never shown much attraction to Caucasian men besides him and that was a fluke.

"Yeah, he is."

"When you described him as tall, dark and handsome…" Justin trailed off. "Your mom is going to flip."

"Yeah, probably but I don't fucking care."

"You want your mom and dad to meet him," Justin sing-songed. "You're so in love with Steven."

"Oh shut up and tell me about your fight with Eric last week. I've been dying to know what happened, text messages can only explain so much."

Justin let out a long breath. "I'm sort of over it."

"What exactly are you over?"

'Him' was the first thing Justin wanted to say and that shocked him. "I'm over the fight."

"You seemed pretty upset when you texted me about it. What happened?"

"I don't want to get into it," Justin said. "It was a stupid fight."

"You're not breaking up, are you?" Daphne asked gently.

"No," Justin said. "However, we haven't seen one another since then. But we've been texting and he called me last night."

"Did you talk to him?"

"I didn't hear my phone. I forgot to put it on vibrate and I was at Babylon with…"

"Brian," Daphne finished. "I figured."

Justin didn't like her disappointed tone. "Why did you figure?"

"Justin, we talk what, three, four times a week?" Daphne asked.

"Yeah, about that."

"Well, you're almost always just leaving doing something with Brian, or about to do something with Brian, or you're actually hanging out with Brian."

"Well now that my favorite person to go to clubs with lives in another city, I had to find someone else to hang out with," Justin defended. "Besides, most of the time I'm hanging with Brian is for work purposes."

"Don't get all pissy," Daphne said. "I was just making an observation. I know you work your ass off at that job."

"I do," Justin affirmed.

"I'm glad you're friends with him," Daphne said sincerely. "You needed a guy to hang out with that you actually had shit in common with."

"You don't think that Eric and I have anything in common?" Justin asked.

"Like I haven't told you that before?" Daphne asked. "Maybe opposites attract."

"They do," Justin said firmly, wondering who he was trying to convince.

§ § § § §

As Brian pulled out the sofa bed, he wondered when he'd grown so comfortable sleeping at Justin's house. Sure, the sofa bed was a lot more comfortable than he expected it would be the first night. But his bed at home was much more comfortable. Tonight, he wasn't planning on staying at Justin's. He was pulling the sofa bed out because they'd decided that it was much more comfortable to stretch out on it while they worked.

The desk in Justin's bedroom was too small for them both to work at and the kitchen table's chairs made their asses numb if they sat in them, same with the dining room table set, which is what they used at first. Working in bed came about one night when Justin had woken him up and climbed onto the bed beside him to show him the graphics he'd sketched. Apparently, he'd dreamt the idea and woke up dying to get it on paper. Brian smiled to himself as he recalled that night and how in sync they were popping ideas back and forth, they fed off one another's energy and by the time the sun streamed in through the windows, they'd devised almost every part of Eyeconic Optics' new advertising campaign.

Justin brought the pizza that was just delivered into the living room. "I'm starving," he announced. His mouth salivated from the smell of the pizza. Not at the sight of Brian bending over in front of him to retrieve on the throw pillows.

Brian straightened up and lifted his t-shirt. "I'm losing my abs because of you."

Justin laughed. "Brian, you're neurotic about going to the gym. Your abs are just fine. Are you done arranging your fucking pillows so I can set the pizza down?"

Brian fixed the last pillow. "Yes, Asshole. I'm done."

"Good, then go grab some beers before you sit down."

Justin's doorbell chimed through house and a light tap was heard at the door.

"Shit. That's my mother," Justin groaned.

Brian laughed and took the pizza box away from Justin. "Since you're getting the door, you can also get us some beers. Did you know your mom was coming over?" he asked.

"Nope," Justin replied. "She has a special ring-knock thing," he explained walking down the hall.

Brian placed the pizza on the side table and sat in the red chair. Justin had told Brian how supportive his mother was when he came out, but he doubted Jennifer would want to meet him while he was in the bed.

Justin opened the door and stepped back to allow his mother to enter. "Hey mom."

"Hey sweetie," Jennifer kissed Justin's cheek. "Sorry to come by unannounced but my cell went dead and my car charger is in Tucker's car."

"It's all right," Justin said, walking to the fridge he grabbed a couple of beers. "Brian, my boss is here. We're about to eat before we get started working. Do you want to join us for some pizza and beer?"

Jennifer shook her head. "Tucker will have dinner made when I get home," she replied. "I just came to drop off these." Jennifer dug into her purse and handed Justin a set of keys. "I had this set made just in case you needed to go over to the condo while Tucker and I are on our honeymoon. I didn't want to forget to give them to you. There's so much stuff to be done before the wedding."

Justin grabbed the keys and put them into his kitchen junk drawer. "Thanks. Brian's in the living room, do you want to meet him?"

"I'd love to," Jennifer said. She was curious about the man Justin talked so highly about.

Brian stood up as Justin and Jennifer made their way over to him.

"Mom, this is Brian Kinney. Brian, this is my mother, Jennifer Taylor," Justin introduced.

"I'll be Jennifer Langley soon," Jennifer corrected and held out her hand to Brian. "Nice to meet you, Brian."

"You too, future Mrs. Langley," Brian said charmingly while shaking the woman's hand. "Congratulations. I'm sure your wedding will be fantastic."

"Thank you." Jennifer said warmly. "It's just a shame Justin has to come without a date."

"Mom," Justin warned, he knew exactly what she was doing.

"Your boyfriend isn't going?" Brian asked.

Justin shook his head. "He has a conference to go to."

"You should find another date," Jennifer said, eyeing Brian. "You'll need someone to dance with at the reception."

Brian laughed. "Is that a subtle way of inviting me?" Brian boldly asked Jennifer.

"Yes, it was." Jennifer grinned.

"It wasn't subtle at all," Justin corrected. "And I don't need a date."

Brian laughed. "Going dateless to your mother's wedding is pretty pathetic," Brian laughed.

"Shut up," Justin hit Brian's chest. "It's not like you'd actually consider…"

"I'll go," Brian interrupted, wanting to spit fire the moment he offered.

"You will?" Justin asked.

"As long as there will be good food and cheap booze," Brian bargained.

"Oh there will be," Jennifer said. "Thanks for saving my son's dignity, Brian."

"Dignity!" Justin yelled. "Mom, it's time for you to go."

Jennifer and Brian both shared a look and started to laugh.

"I hate you both," Justin pouted.

"Nah, you love us," Brian teased.

Tbc...


	6. June

[ ](http://galeandrandy.livejournal.com/153868.html)

  
**June**

_Derive happiness in oneself from a good day's work, from illuminating the fog that surrounds us. -Henri Matisse_

Michael was about to walk into the diner to meet Ben for lunch when an image in the windows had him paralyzed for a moment. Shaking off the shock, he walked backwards in a daze of disbelief, bumping into Emmett who had the same destination in mind. "Sorry, Em."

Emmett gave Michael a weary look. "What on earth are you doing walking backward? Has the heat fried your brain?"

Michael shook his head slowly as his attention was once again on the diners inside. "I sure thought it had. Look."

Emmett laughed. "That's Justin."

"I know who he is, Em," Michael said. "There, did you see that!"

"Yes. I did." Emmett smiled grandly.

"I can't believe Brian would do that," Michael gasped, wiping the sweat from his brow.

"Come on; let's get inside before they see us staring at them, or before we catch a heat stroke."

Michael followed Emmett into the diner and they both made their way down to Brian and Justin's booth.

Justin was laughing and dabbing ice cream away from Brian's lips. "You should've just opened wide," he teased.

Brian leered at Justin from across the table and Justin gave him the same expression, heightening the tension that wrapped around them every time they were together. They barely noticed the change now.

"Hey!" Michael greeted, feeling like he'd just interrupted them having sex.

"Hey, Mikey." Brian scooted over. "Em."

Emmett grinned. "Hi guys. It sure is hot today," he declared, sitting beside Justin.

"It is," Justin agreed. "Brian and I skipped lunch and decided to have dessert first." Justin took a big spoonful of the vanilla ice cream and shoved it into his mouth.

"Correction. You decided to have ice cream."

"It looks like you had some too," Michael teased, wiping a smudge of vanilla from Brian's chin.

Justin's phone rang and he excused himself to answer it, taking off to the bathroom. As soon as Justin walked away, Brian grabbed the dessert dish and began eating what was left of the sundae.

Emmett and Michael shared a look of wonder.

"You're eating after him?" Michael couldn't suppress the shocking question.

Brian shrugged. "You know I could never resist your mother's sundaes," he deadpanned.

As if on cue, Debbie appeared beside the table. "Hey baby." She squeezed Michael's face and gave him a loud peck on the cheek. "You're burning up."

Michael laughed. "That's because I walked here and it's almost one hundred degrees, Ma."

Debbie turned to Emmett. "How are you, sweetie? You were gone before I got up this morning."

"Miss Skinny Sandra, the gal who is getting married on Saturday, had a malfunction with her dress yesterday. She lost too much weight and it was swallowing her up. I had to go with her to the dress shop this morning and talk the dress tailor into making the ninth alteration."

"You should've just brought her here," Debbie advised. "I would've had her fattened up in no time. What do you two want for lunch?" she asked.

"I think I'll take a cue from Brian and Justin and have a chocolate sundae and a diet coke," Emmett replied.

"Same for me," Michael said.

Debbie gave Brian a stern look. "You're a bad influence," she said before walking away.

Michael laughed and asked, "How many times do you think she's said that to you?"

"More times than we could ever count, Mikey."

Justin returned to the table and slumped into his seat. "I'm going to kill my mother," he grumbled.

"What now?" Brian asked. "A problem with the caterers or the florists?"

"Both," Justin answered. "She forgot to inform them both about the time change for the reception and they're both booked during that time and don't think they can make the deliveries with enough time to set everything up."

"Your mother's getting married?" Emmett asked.

"Yes," Justin grumbled, taking the ice cream dish from Brian before he could eat the last few bites.

Debbie returned to the table with Emmett and Michael's sundaes and drinks. "Here you are, boys. Enjoy 'em'," she said before rushing off to the kitchen. The diner's lunch rush had began and there was now people waiting in line for a table.

"Thanks, Ma," Michael called after her.

Emmett took a bite of his ice cream. "Who is your mother's wedding planner, Justin?"

Justin shook his head sadly. "She refused to get one. She swore that she could do it all on her own and didn't think she needed a wedding planner because it's her second marriage."

"Except she isn't doing it all on her own," Brian informed. "She fucks up and you've been fixing everything."

Michael perked up at the protective tone Brian was using.

"I know," Justin stated. "But she's my mom."

"What does your mom expect you to about the flowers and the food? Haul it over to the wedding yourself?" Brian asked.

Justin frowned. "Precisely."

"You're groomsmen, you can't be in both places at once," Brian reminded him. "I respect your mother but this wedding shit she's having you do is ridiculous."

"I know, I know, you're right. I just…"

"When is the wedding?" Emmett asked, interrupting Justin. He felt the concern Brian had for Justin and knew that if Brian was making a big deal out of it, then Justin really must be in a bad spot.

"It's the 21st," Justin replied.

"Of what month?" Emmett asked further.

"This month."

"Oh my!" Emmett put his hand on his chest. "That doesn't give me much time at all. But if you want to give me your mother's phone number I can meet with her and we can discuss my helping her out."

"Emmett, I really appreciate that but my mother's budget is already stretched thin. I don't think she could afford you. But if…"

"There'll be no charge, sweetie."

"You don't have to do that, Emmett. I was going to tell you that I could pay for your services as long as you didn't tell my mother."

"There's no need to do that," Emmett assured. "The only payment I'll accept is a dance the next time you and Brian are at Babylon. Here, put your mother's number in my phone."

"I can definitely do that," Justin said, smiling brightly. He handed Emmett back the phone, still giddy with relief. "Thank you."

"Come on, Sunshine," Brian said while pushing Michael to get out of the booth. "We've got to get back to work before the other boss has our balls."

Justin dropped a twenty on the table. "It was nice to see you both," he said politely.

Brian bent down and kissed Michael. "You and the professor should come to Babylon on Saturday."

"We can't," Michael said sadly. "We've got Jenny again. Next weekend?"

"I'll hold you to it," Brian replied. "Em?"

"Oh, I'll be there, not that you'll notice since you two will be stuck in that VIP room," Emmett replied.

Justin looked at Brian in shock. "Emmett doesn't have an invite?"

"He has one," Brian told him.

Emmett nodded. "I just don't prefer elitist cock."

Justin and Brian laughed and said in unison, "I do."

Michael waited approximately one half of one half a second before he started to talk about them. "They both said 'I do'. I think Brian is in love, Emmett. I can't believe this! I can't believe he's been playing off their relationship as a friendship when all the while…" Michael shook his head. "I can't believe he didn't tell me."

"There's not much to tell from Brian's part." Emmett twisted his spoon around in the ice cream. "Hate to break it to you, but Justin has a boyfriend."

"So?" Michael said.

"You sound like Brian."

"Seriously, Em. Don't tell me you didn't see what we walked in on. They were practically eye-fucking before we interrupted them.

Emmett grinned. "They were. But Justin has a boyfriend and Brian doesn't do boyfriends."

"But I think he would," Michael said, still astounded. "You saw how worried he was about Justin. I know you did."

"Worry about his employee being overworked isn't the same thing as wanting him for a boyfriend."

"Why do I feel like we've traded places?" Michael asked. "You're the one that's supposed to be writing out their wedding invitations."

"I guess all the stress I have planning other people's weddings has taken its toll," Emmett said sadly. "I need a break."

"You need to help me find out what's really going on with Brian and Justin. When you're at Babylon with them Saturday night, take notes."

"Michael, are you asking me to spy on them?"

"Yes I am," Michael said proudly.

"I'm surprised that you actually want to get Brian together with Justin. You didn't seem to care too much for him the first time you met him at Babylon."

"I was just feeling him out," Michael defended. "I've seen him and Brian at the loft together too and when they took Gus in to visit me at the comic book shop a few weeks ago. I know that Brian cares for him and wants to be with him. We're all happy…"

Emmett gave Michael a look.

"Well, we all have had partners at one time or another. Brian should experience that. I think he is, actually, just without the sex."

"And we all know sex means absolutely nothing in relationships," Emmett joked.

"Maybe it's a good thing for Brian. He isn't having sex with Justin so he's building up all the other important stuff in a relationship first."

"Like straight people do?" Emmett asked horrified.

Michael laughed. "No, like someone who is afraid to let anyone love them. I bet Brian doesn't even realize what he's doing yet."

"And we're not going to draw his attention to it. Leave them alone, Michael. If they really are hot for each other, well… they've gotten this far without any interference, haven't they?"

"I guess."

"Then give them time. If they're meant to be, nothing will stop them from being together."

"There's the romantic Emmett Honeycutt I know and love."

§ § § § §

Brian waltzed into Justin's office, a proud smile on his face. "So you finally did it!"

Justin launched into his explanation, "I just couldn't take it anymore. I gave her three chances to change her attitude. Then today she deliberately went behind my back and changed the color of the foam core and when I asked her about it she had the nerve to tell me that I didn't have an eye for color."

Brian chuckled. "Damn."

"Me?" Justin said standing. "I don't have a fucking eye for color? She paired fuchsia heels with an orange vest last week."

"Did you tell her that?" Brian asked, lightly pushing Justin's shoulders down so he'd sit in his chair.

"Of course I did. And then I fired her."

"Good for you." Brian worked to massage the tension from Justin's shoulders. "The bitch deserved it."

"Only now I have to find a replacement for Anna. I really don't want to do that."

"You can wait a little while. We're going to be slow next week since Cynthia is taking her vacation."

Justin dropped his head on his desk. "I need a drink and it's only four o'clock."

"Then get up." Brian slapped Justin's back and walked toward the door. "We'll go to Woody's and celebrate."

Justin lifted his head. "I'd love to leave early and get drunk but my mother's wedding rehearsal is tonight."

Brian paused in the doorway. "I thought those were the day before the wedding, not the week before."

"The church is booked the day and night before so we've got to do it tonight."

"What time do you have to be there?" Brian asked.

"Seven. It should only last an hour or so."

"Call me when it's over and I'll pick you up from your apartment."

"I can drive to Woody's," Justin informed Brian.

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"Fine, be at my place at nine. That'll give me enough time to change."

"Later," Brian replied, walking out of Justin's office.

"Later."

§ § § § §

"I needed that," Eric said, huffing deep breaths. "I'll be thinking of that the whole time I'm gone."

Justin wanted more, needed more. Needed something… something different. Fulfilling. But then Eric was rolling out of his bed and gathering the clothes Justin had stripped off him. "You could always go out to a club and get your needs met," Justin replied. His words had a slice of bitterness to them but Eric didn't seem to notice.

Eric zipped his pants and gave Justin a soft smile. "I'll be too busy. But I'll call you when I get there."

Justin pulled off the condom, tied it and threw it toward the trash can. "We haven't had phone sex since…"

"Since I went to see my mother in Cincinnati and she nearly caught me jerking off."

"Yeah." Justin tried to smile and tried to laugh because he and Eric always laughed for hours about that, but he couldn't manage more than a small puff of air passing his lips and a smaller smirk gracing them.

Eric now fully dressed sat beside Justin. "I'll be back in a couple of weeks," he said, holding Justin's hand.

Justin knew that Eric was reasoning that his maudlin attitude was directly caused by the fact that he was leaving. It wasn't, but he wouldn't tell him that. "I'll miss you." It wasn't a lie, Justin would miss Eric. He kissed Eric, trying to convey his wants and needs wordlessly but with ever soft caress of Eric's tongue against his demanding one, it became clear that Eric didn't understand.

"Walk me out?" Eric requested, pulling away from Justin.

Justin sighed deeply as he got out of bed and followed Eric to the front door. "Have fun," he told Eric.

Eric wrapped his arms around Justin's naked body, hugged him tight for a few minutes and kissed his cheek. "I will."

Back in his bed, his toy box open beside him, Justin spread a thin amount of lube on a string of anal beads and then teased a lubed finger into his hole. Too late to turn on a porno, Justin closed his eyes and relaxed, ready for a fantasy to spark in his mind. He pushed the first bead inside as the image of…

"Justin!"

"Fuck!" Justin popped the tiny ball out of his hole and groaned at the ache it left. "Stay out there!" he yelled to Brian.

"I passed as Eric as he left," Brian said, walking down the hall. "I know you're not with anyone."

The toy box was barely shut as Brian pushed on Justin's half-open bedroom door and waltzed inside. "I asked you to stay out there!" Justin yelled, covering himself and the box with his crumpled sheet.

Brian wasn't sure if it was embarrassment or anger that made Justin's cheeks pink. It didn't really make a difference, his cock reacted the same. "You must be horny if you're jerking off two-seconds after your boyfriend left. He seemed awfully happy so I know you fucked him." I could smell you on him as I passed him in the hallway, Brian thought.

"Shut up," Justin moaned, putting his hands over his face. I hate that you make the ache worse, he wanted to say, but wouldn't.

Brian chuckled and had the nerve to sit down on the messy bed, inches away from Justin. "It's not like I haven't see you get off."

Justin slammed his hands down on his thighs. "What do you want to have a circle jerk or something?" he asked angrily.

Or something. "Maybe I should call him back and you can fuck him again."

I'd rather fuck you. No, Justin didn't think that. He didn't. "Brian," he spoke low, "please."

Brian felt the heat between them rise. "Please what?"

"Wait for me in the living room while I shower, then you can give me a tour of the baths."

Brian's mouth dropped open for a second but he quickly closed it. "You are horny," he teased, rising to his feet. "Hurry up or I'll leave without you."

§ § § § §

Half of the guests at Jennifer and Tucker's wedding reception included men and women of the upper-class set. Jennifer had kept ties with them even after she quit attending the Country Club she and Craig had belonged to. Many of these persons owned well-to-do businesses and took advantage of every social event to flaunt their status and further their business ventures.

Brian handed out the last spare business card in his wallet to an older, pristinely dressed woman named "Cathy French." She was related to the mustard empire of Frenches and used her family money to start a boutique tailor shop. Now, five years later she had three shops in Pittsburgh and many others through out the United States. Currently, Stitches were in contract with Van Guard but that contract was coming to a close in a month and Cathy was shopping around for new representation.

"Thank you, Mr. Kinney. I'll make sure I have my assistant call your office Monday morning to set up a meeting. I'm very excited to see what ideas you might have for 'Stitches'."

"Thank you, Ms. French. I look forward to seeing you soon."

Cathy shook Brian's hand. "I hope you'll be asking my 'nephew' to escort you in the waltz or tango soon. Jenny says she thinks he's still a wonderful dancer. I used to attend his ballroom dance competitions religiously," she divulged.

Brian bit his lip to stop his internal roaring laughter from bubbling out of his mouth.

"You didn't know he danced?" Cathy asked, cupping her hand over her mouth.

"No, I think Justin was keeping that to himself."

"Well you tell him that he'd make his Aunt Cathy's day if he would dance for her," Cathy advised, patting Brian's arm.

"I'll see if I can do that," Brian replied. He gave the Cathy a smile before walking off, in search of Justin amongst the throngs of elegantly dressed guests.

§ § § § §

On his way to find Justin, Brian caught sight of Emmett hurrying into the kitchen. As he came out Brian beckoned him over.

Emmett wiped sweat from his brow with a napkin. "What do you want, Brian? I'm in the middle of setting up for cake and desserts. I've got a lot to get done within an hour."

Brian pulled out his wallet and handed Emmett the check he'd written out for him. "Take this."

Emmett looked at the amount written on the check. "Brian, I told Jennifer that I would do this for free. I don't need…"

"Take it," Brian interrupted. "You've basically taken over Jennifer's wedding and I know there's no way she could've pulled off what you have. I also know that this is taking your time away from your other clients and also your free time."

"But Justin's my friend; I wouldn't feel right accepting it. Especially because I'm pretty sure he has no idea about this."

Brian shrugged off Emmett's guess. "You deserve to be paid for a job well done," he said before turning on his heel.

Emmett perked up as Brian walked away from him and sauntered over to Justin. Michael had been right. He kept his eyes on Brian and Justin for a few more minutes, watching their body language, the ease they had with one another and the way they whispered into each other's ears. Niether he nor Michael had to do a thing, it looked like Brian and Justin were doing it all on their own.

Emmett only hoped that Justin's boyfriend would be okay once they broke up. There was no way that they would be staying together for long. Emmett had never met the man, but he doubted that he and Justin's chemistry held a candle to what sizzled between Brian and Justin.

§ § § § §

"I'm glad to see you doing so well for yourself, Justin."

"Thanks, Mr. Jeffries." Justin shook the short bald man's hand. "It was nice of you to come, my mother was so happy when you sent back the R.S.V.P."

"I was thrilled when I got the invite in the mail. I just knew your mother would find happiness again. And it looks like you may have found your someone too?" Keith asked.

"Perhaps," Justin answered, unsure who 'the someone' Keith Jefferies referred to, his date or Eric. Not that either would ever be the 'someone' because he wasn't ever looking and didn't intend to look.

"You were such a help to your mother and I while we were transitioning your father's business to me. I was worried that you were giving up the last bit of your childhood, coming to the office every day after school and staying there all day on weekends. Your mother worried that she was ruining your life."

Justin laughed in retrospect. "That couldn't be further from the truth."

"I see that and I'm sure she does too," Keith assured. "You look happy. Much happier than you were with that boy I last saw you with. What was his name? Arron?"

"Eric," Justin barely got past his lips before he started laughing uproariously. He tried to quell it, especially when Keith gave him a concerned look, but he couldn't help himself. "Actually, Keith, Eric and…"

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything," Brian said, stepping beside Justin.

Justin shook his head at Brian and thanked the gods that he hadn't been privy to the last five minutes of him and Keith's conversation. "No, you're not," Justin replied. "Brian let me introduce you to, Keith Jeffries. Keith this is Brian Kinney, he's the CEO of Exhibition Advertising Agency."

"Nice to meet you, Brian." Keith shook hands with Brian.

"You too," Brian said.

"Keith bought my father's electronics company," Justin explained. "He's a good friend of the family."

"You have a good employee in Justin," Keith said. "I've never known anyone his age so smart. You'd be a fool not to keep him."

Brian smirked. "I'll keep that in mind, Keith."

"Justin, I'd better go get these drinks back to Leigh. Come by the office some time and I'll take you out to lunch."

"I will," Justin answered, giving Keith a small wave as he walked off.

"So he was your father's partner?" Brian asked, grabbing a champagne glass from the bar.

Justin clinked glasses with Brian and took a heavy gulp. "No. He was a good friend of my mothers from college. He owned a small electronic company in Scranton and merged it with Taylor Electronics after he bought it from us. He's a really nice guy."

"I'm sure." Brian hated small talk. "So why haven't you been using your mother's connections to drum up business for Exhibition this whole time?"

Justin blanched. "Uhm… you're the advertising executive, remember? You're the one that brings in the clients. I help you keep them," he stated bluntly.

Brian laughed and informed, "I'm completely out of business cards. I should've been crashing country club weddings for years."

"When my mother was sending out all the invites I really didn't think half of them would come. She doesn't even go to the club anymore and I know I haven't seen most of these people since my father's funeral."

"Well lucky for us they all decided to come."

"For us?" Justin asked, walking with Brian back to their abandoned table.

Brian smiled victoriously as he sat down beside Justin. "Let me put it this way. I'd need Ted to run the numbers to estimate the projected profits Exhibition would likely make from just half of the people who took my card. You will definitely be getting a bonus for each one."

Justin smiled, though he was pretty happy with his life and didn't see the need to be excessively rich; he wouldn't mind an apartment upgrade. "An association fee?"

"Yes. But on one condition," Brian revealed.

"What's that?" Justin asked.

Brian stood from his chair and offered his hand to Justin. "Dance with me."

"Dance?" Justin gasped.

"Yes. Dance. The waltz, the tango, the fucking funky chicken, pick one."

"With you?" Justin asked slowly. "Why?"

"Because your 'Aunt' Cathy urged me to ask you."

"Since when do you do what other people ask you to do?" Justin asked, standing up but not yet taking Brian's hand.

"She asked so nicely," Brian replied. "After basically offering me her multi-million dollar business on a platter the moment her contract with Vangard expires next month."

Justin sighed as he placed his hand in Brian's. "Well, when you put it that way, how could I refuse?"

Brian began to escort Justin toward the dance floor where a dozen couples were dancing to a boring instrumental tune. "That's just what I thought," Brian told him. "So, which dance is it gonna be?" He stopped them just before the wooden floor of the banquet hall met the white dance floor.

"I've seen you dance," Justin reminded Brian. "I think we should just stick to a basic slow dance or something."

Brian raised one eyebrow and asked, "Have you no faith in me at all?"

"None," Justin said honestly but added, "when it comes to dancing."

"Wait here," Brian ordered and walked over to the DJ.

Justin looked for his mother while he waited and caught her eye. He wanted to make sure that she saw he was at least going to try to dance, even if his dance partner had absolutely no rhythm. She gave him an encouraging smile as Brian walked back to him.

"Ye of little faith," Brian teased, pulling Justin by the lapels of his suit onto the dance floor as new song began to play.

Justin gasped in mortification. "I can't believe you chose the tango! Not just anyone can dance the fucking tango."

"You left it up to me to choose," Brian said, pulling Justin close to him, hard.

Justin's breath caught for a moment before he could recover. "This is so inappropriate for my mother's wedding," he whined. "She wanted the waltz."

"I never knew you to be such a prude." Brian guided their bodies into position and smiled with satisfaction at the look of shock on Justin's face.

§ § § § §

Brian and Justin were completely sober when their tongues met for the first time. They were breathless from the ten minute tango, from their rise in body temperature and from their undisguised emotions. Their bodies were in perfect sync for so long that instinct crumbled boundaries and allowed their desire to burst into one another, unrestrained and unhindered by the rules which normally wound tension around them.

The second an applause so loud it drowned out the next music track began, Brian and Justin disengaged from one another and slipped back into reality. Justin excused himself to the bathroom and Brian was waiting for him with more champagne when he emerged minutes later.

They schmoozed with Justin's family members, ignored the curious and disapproving looks from his family and drank champagne until neither of them could recall what emotions they'd felt when they kissed the other.

They left the reception as two plastered best friends, leaving Brian's car in the valet parking and taking a cab back to Brian's place.

"Why did I get off here?" Justin asked as he held onto Brian.

"How should I know?" Brian tried to pull down the gate on the elevator while Justin was attached to his arm but had no luck. He extracted himself and pushed Justin in the corner. "Stay," he ordered.

Justin pouted but then smiled as he watched Brian try four times to pull the gate down without any luck. He just wasn't pulling hard enough and for some reason it was very funny to Justin.

"It's broke!" Brian declared and grabbed Justin's arm. "We'll walk."

Justin looked up the menacing stair well. "All the way up there?"

Brian sniffed. "Do you wanna sleep here?"

Justin looked at the concrete steps and considered it for a moment until Brian hauled him up the first step. Many drunken minutes later he continued to hold onto Brian's arm as he waited for Brian to unlock the door of the loft.

"Inside," Brian grunted, dragging Justin into the loft. He shook Justin off his arm, closed the door and set the alarm.

Justin was _so_ tired and the futons lying on the floor looked like the perfect place to collapse.

After Brian guzzled a bottle of water, took a piss and stripped to his underwear he became acutely aware of Justin's loud snoring. "We didn't even smoke pot," he said aloud.

Justin grunted in answer and put his hand in his hair and heaved a sigh so deep his breath reached Brian's face.

"One time," Brian said. "Don't make a habit out of it."

Brian took pity on Justin and undressed him. By the time he finished, his own state and the exhaustive process of taking off Justin's suit with absolutely no help took its toll. Brian fell forward, deciding to rest for just a few minutes beside Justin. At least until he could find the strength to get up and climb into his own bed.

§ § § § §

Brian's nose itched and he was having a little trouble breathing. Trying to get air he took a deep breath in through his nose and… and smelled… What was that smell? He moaned. It was good. Whatever it was smelled good and it felt so soft in his fingers, softer than anything he'd ever touc…

Wait.

What the fuck?

Brian opened his eyes and for a moment he was sure he was trapped in a corn field until he got his bearings and realized exactly what was going on. He jerked his face away, but was conscious enough to gently extract the hand he had wrapped in Justin's hair.

Justin felt someone pulling his hair and someone was moving beside him. He didn't remember Eric sleeping over last night. No. Eric was gone on a trip to D.C. He'd gone to his mother's wedding. He went with…

With Brian!

Justin and Brian both turned to look at one another and sat upright yelling in unison, "What the fuck?"

And then, every memory came back to them from the night before. But they didn't queen out, they didn't give bullshit apologies and they didn't build an awkward tension between them. No. They laughed. And laughed and laughed. They laughed while they crawled into Brian's bed and they laughed until they could do nothing but pass out from exhaustion.

Tbc...


	7. July

[ ](http://galeandrandy.livejournal.com/153868.html)

  
**July**

_"When people go to work, they shouldn't have to leave their hearts at home." -Betty Bender_

Justin heard the panting from his bedroom. He'd considered not disturbing Brian's jerk-off session but then he remembered last month when Brian had interrupted him without a second thought. He grinned evilly as he tiptoed down the hall and smiled to himself as he peered around the corner to find Brian….

Not jacking off.

Brian was sleeping.

Confused, Justin knew he had to get a better look and crept close to the sofa bed. The light blanket was thrown to the side, exposing Brian's sinewy body. Justin zeroed in on Brian's sweat pants and his mouth watered. He actually had to wipe the drool from his open mouth as he clearly saw Brian's erection, twitching all on its own inside his navy briefs. He backed away, almost knocking over the piles of work they'd accomplished the night before. He carefully fixed the items on the side table and stepped back slowly, one hand covering his blooming erection.

Brian turned to his side away from Justin and his hand dove into his underwear.

Justin backed up more, making it to the entrance of the dining room when Brian's soft moans paralyzed him.

"Justin," Brian whispered unknowingly.

Justin ran as swiftly as he could into his bedroom. He could hardly process what he'd heard. No, maybe he hadn't heard right, he told himself, stripping off his t-shirt and sweats. Maybe he just wanted to hear Brian say his name and think Brian was dreaming of him.

No. There was no way he would want that! No way in hell because they were friends, they were employee and boss. That's all. Or so Justin ranted to himself as he got into a nearly cold shower and began to scrub himself down, the dirty thoughts falling down the drain along with the water and soap suds.

§ § § § §

Brian laughed to himself as he awoke with a raging hard-on. He knew he'd been dreaming about Justin, he remembered distinctly the deliciously devious acts he'd performed in his dream. It wasn't the first time it happened and it probably wasn't going to be the last. Brian knew this but it still bothered him, even if he told himself that he wasn't bothered by it.

Justin and he always had morning wood, no matter how many tricks they'd fucked the night before. It was a given. So he wasn't embarassed to walk to Justin's bedroom with his erection threatening to pop out of the top of his waistband. The bedroom door was wide open and upon entrance Brian didn't see Justin. A second passed before he heard the sound of the sink being turned on and guessed that Justin was brushing his teeth.

"You almost done primping in that patriotic sweat room?" Brian called.

"Just brushing my teeth and the shower is yours," Justin yelled back.

Brian walked over to the hideous lockers and grabbed the spare suit he kept at Justin's as well as one of the spare dress shirts and deposited it on Justin's bed. There was no way he could dress in the patriotic box Justin called a bathroom. He then went to grab his socks and a pair of underwear which were in the dresser that sectioned off Justin's studio and office. He didn't think about how weird it was that he and Justin had drawers at one another's places, at least not today.

Justin came out of the bathroom and turned away from Brian who was bending down, his ass in the air on perfect display. "Good morning," he greeted lamely, tightening the towel around his waist.

Brian snorted, threw his briefs and socks at Justin's face and disappeared into the bathroom. His quick retreat had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that he nearly came like a teenager at the sight of Justin in a towel. Nope.

Justin held Brian's black briefs a moment too long before placing them on top of the suit.

He and Brian had a system in the mornings that they went to work. Whoever's place they were staying at, the owner showered first, dressed and made coffee while the other dressed. So Justin had to hustle to get dressed and get the coffee going. Brian's dream had them behind schedule already. Brian had finished showering before Justin had his pants on and he wasn't looking forward to a bitchy non-caffeinated Brian when he came out.

Thankfully, it seemed like Brian was taking his time dressing and the pot of coffee was almost done as Justin folded the blanket and stored away the sofa bed. He was just placing the last large pillow on the couch when he heard a loud knock on his front door.

Walking down the hall he hoped that it wasn't his annoying neighbor who had begged him for a ride to work a few times before. Justin could never tell the girl no so he didn't get the extra few minutes to read the paper or stop for fast food. Thankfully, Brian was with him today so he could honestly tell the girl that he didn't have his car and that Brian's only fit two people. Prepared for the conversation, Justin opened the door with a big smile on his face.

"Hey." Eric shyly smiled at Justin before stepping into the apartment and taking him into his arms.

In shock, Justin struggled to hug Eric back and had barely kissed him when Eric pulled away. "Why are you back in Pittsburgh already?" Justin asked.

"I tried to call you last night but your phone went to voice mail," Eric explained. "I take it you haven't checked your messages yet?"

That wasn't usually a part of Justin and Brian's morning routine. "No. Why? Did something happen?"

Eric shut the door behind him and nodded. "I met an old friend of mine there. My best friend from high school, actually. Sacha, do you remember me telling you about him?"

How could Justin forget? He was all Eric talked about for the first two years they dated. "Yeah, I remember him."

"Get this," Eric said excitedly. "Ooh coffee can I have a cup?"

"Sure," Justin said, feeling butterflies fluttering around in his stomach.

"Where are the cups?" Eric asked, opening two cabinets and not finding them.

Justin bent down and pulled out the lazy-Susan drawer. "Right here." He was about to hand one to Eric when Eric took one for himself. Specifically the large mug Brian usually used. Justin did his best to ignore that. "So, what am I getting?"

Eric poured half the pot into his mug, added a little cream and sat back down before answering Justin. "Sacha was at the rally too. He's an environmental lawyer now."

Justin did not roll his eyes like he wanted to. "Cool."

Eric nodded enthusiastically and gulped down his coffee. "Turns out, Sacha had a U-Haul rented and was moving from D.C. to take a job at a firm here in Pittsburgh!"

"I thought he went to Pace and lived in New York," Justin said, at a loss as to how else he was supposed to continue the conversation. He was excited for Eric but couldn't exactly garner that emotion within himself about the turn of events.

"Yeah. He transferred to a school in D.C. and graduated in May. Isn't it the craziest of coincidences? We meet up eight years after last seeing one another in sea of thousands of people and a few days later he's moving back here! So I nixed my plane ticket and drove back with him last night. We've been up all night moving him into his apartment and I figured while I was out I'd come and say hi."

"Hi," Brian greeted as he walked into the kitchen.

"Hey, Brian," Eric greeted the man for the first time without any jealousy to his tone. "Do you want a cup of coffee? Justin made some." He raised the mug in his hand to Brian.

"Yeah, I know." Brian replied testily. "And that's my mug."

Eric looked down at the coffee cup and laughed as he noticed that it actually had Brian's first name on it. "Sorry."

Justin quickly grabbed his matching mug from the drawer and handed it to Brian. "Use mine. I don't want any. Brian always makes us stop and get some at Gloria Jeans anyway."

"You sure you don't want any?" Brian asked, pouring the rest into the mug. "I don't think we'll have time to stop today." They did, but he liked fucking with Justin.

"If I want coffee I'll get some at work."

"So what are you doing here so early, Arron?" Brian teased, knowing it was probably Eric that should be asking him that.

Eric was too slap happy to notice Brian's taunt. "I just got back from D.C. and wanted to see Justin." He pulled Justin's arm and brought him into a long kiss.

Brian turned away. Because he had to prepare his coffee of course. He poured an insane amount of sugar in the black liquid, stirred it and offered it to Justin who had thankfully decided to stop sucking face. "Share it with me, we're running late anyway."

Justin smiled gratefully at Brian and took a long drink before handing it back to him. "Thanks."

Eric finally grew too uncomfortable and stood up, handing Justin the last of his cup. "You can have the rest of this, I've got to go. I promised Sacha I'd help him set everything up so I probably won't be around tonight or tomorrow because then we're going to a demonstration at the GLC, but maybe the next day?"

Justin sighed in aggravation. "I guess. I mean, you weren't supposed to be back until then anyway, right?"

Eric forgot to attempt to kiss Justin once before he left the apartment.

Justin looked inside the mug he'd been handed but couldn't drink it, his stomach turned at the thought. He placed it on the counter and looked at Brian. "What?"

"You'll drink after me but not him? You just kissed him!"

"Wipe that shocked expression off your face, Brian," Justin warned. "Or I will be a bitch to work with all day. Besides, I eat and drink after you but don't kiss you, so it makes no difference."

Brian wanted to correct Justin but didn't, instead he tugged on a lock of Justin's hair because he'd been wanting to do that since he saw the messy do as soon as he walked into the kitchen. "I was only kidding." He handed his coffee back to Justin. "Drink the rest; I'm going to get our shit together."

Justin had no idea why it disgusted him to drink after his boyfriend and not Brian. He knew there obviously had to be a deeper meaning to it. He didn't want to think about it. Things between him and Eric were already off and he didn't need anymore shit to think about it. Not until he figured out what he was going to do about his dwindling attraction to a man that had held his interest for the last eight years of his life.

§ § § § §

Justin's office phone rang and he saw the light blinking telling him it was an office-to-office call. He hoped that it wasn't Mira, his new hire, telling him that she was having problems with the staff or worse yet, quitting. Daniel had turned down the position for Liaison and Justin had been forced to hire someone new to replace Anna because he didn't feel anyone else was qualified. Mira was more than qualified for the position, today was her first day and he'd already received calls from Jackie second-guessing her work. Justin loved Mira's work and didn't want to lose her as an employee. He promised himself that he wouldn't let anyone in the art department run her out.

"Justin Taylor," he answered his phone hesitantly.

"Hey. Guess what?"

"Brian," Justin said relieved.

"You're guessing me?"

"No," Justin snorted. "What? What am I guessing about?"

"I've just been informed that Exhibition is going to receive at least one award at this year's CLIO awards."

"Oh my god!" Justin yelled. "That's great."

"Better yet, Cynthia, Ted myself and you are all up for a bunch of separate awards too."

"Me?" Justin gasped. "Really?"

"Yes, for three actually."

"This is amazing!" Justin cheered. "I can't believe it!"

"You've done great work," Brian praised genuinely. "Cade never got nominated for a damn thing."

"What are the categories?" Justin asked.

"I've got to get going to an appointment, but I'll tell you while we're celebrating tonight," Brian said.

Justin groaned. "Brian, I can't. I've got other plans. I'm…"

"Then I'll call you later," Brian interrupted. "Gotta go, I'm pulling up for a late lunch meeting with Brown, now."

Justin heard the click of the phone and sighed. He had also heard the disappointment in Brian's voice. Justin wished Brian would have waited for his explanation; he had a very good reason for not being able to go out and celebrate. One he was sure that Brian could appreciate.

§ § § § §

Justin flipped to a fresh page in his large sketchbook and poised his pencil, ready to draw. "Who now, Gus?"

""You," Gus said after a moment of thinking.

"Me?" Justin really hated self-portraits.

"And Dad too," Gus added.

Justin wondered if Gus' grin was innocent or devious, he knew it was an expression he got from Brian, one which always threw Justin off. "One of me and then I'll draw one of your dad."

Gus stuck his bottom lip out. "You said you'd draw anything I wanted if I ate all my peas."

Justin gave in, "You're right. I did." But the last thing he wanted to do was draw a picture of him and Brian together. "How about I draw us at are desks at work?" he suggested.

"But on the same page," Gus conceded.

"Yeah, on the same page."

"Then can I hang it up in my room?"

"Sure, Gus." Justin began to draw their desks first.

"Draw them closer together," Gus advised sternly.

Justin looked at the child as he erased what he'd drawn. "You really are just like your dad."

Gus smiled widely at the compliment. "I know," he spoke proudly.

§ § § § §

"So this was his plan," Brian spoke to himself. He pulled his Jeep into Lindsay and Melanie's driveway behind Justin's SUV and shut off the engine. He didn't see Melanie's car, so he couldn't be sure if only Lindsay were home or if Justin was there to babysit Gus and Jenny.

Once on the porch, Brian knocked and yelled, "It's Brian," as he heard footsteps near the door. Justin opened the door to him a moment later, Jenny and Gus standing on each side of him. "Hey," he greeted.

"What are you doing here?" Justin asked.

Gus mirrored the question. "Yeah, Dad. What are you doing here? I thought you couldn't come until this weekend."

"Well I had some free time," Brian deadpanned. "So, is anyone going to invite me in?"

Jenny smiled at Brian and ran to him, wrapping her arms around his legs. "Come in!"

Justin laughed at the display. "I don't think Brian can walk like that, Jenny."

Gus whispered to Justin, "She has a crush on my dad." He started giggling, obviously finding it to be hilarious.

Justin bit his tongue. No. He did not almost say, 'me too'. The words weren't threatening to spill out of his mouth. They weren't. Really.

Brian picked Jenny up and carried her inside the house on his hip, following Gus and Justin into the living room. "Can I set you down, munchkin?" he asked Jenny.

Jenny played her part and grasped Brian tightly around the neck. "Noooo."

"Help me, Gus," Brian mocked desperation. "I have a munchkin swinging on my shoulders."

"I'll get her, Dad," Gus said in a deep voice. "Come down, Jenny."

Jenny's legs slipped from around Brian's waist and she giggled as they swung in the air. "Help, help, I'm going to fall!"

"I'll catch you, Jenny," Gus promised, putting his hands on her waist.

"Hurry, Gus," Brian called, bending forward. "I can't hold her….much….longer."

Jenny released her hands from around Brian's neck and Gus helped place her on her feet. "I made it!"

Justin watched the whole interaction as though he was seeing a movie in slow motion. Obviously, the play between Brian and the kids was something they'd done many times in greeting. Justin had never seen Brian be so…so… well, the only word for it was sweet. It was. Justin was amazed at the interaction and was further astonished when Brian kissed them and sent them up to get their pajamas on and the kids easily listened to him. Sure, Jenny and Gus were good kids, but he'd never gotten them to do anything that quickly.

Brian noticed Justin staring at him and wondered if he'd done something wrong. "During the summer Gus' bedtime is usually nine. Did you not want them in bed yet?"

Justin realized that whatever his expression was, it had freaked Brian out. He quickly smiled in approval. "I was just about to send them up right before you got here. It's just that I've never seen them listen so well about bedtime."

"If Gus is being troublesome when you watch him, I'll talk to him," Brian offered. He didn't exactly have the same 'authority' with Jenny, and could only imagine Mel's reaction if she found out he tried to adjust Jenny's attitude.

"No, that's not what I meant," Justin assured. "They're both great. I just mean, usually they at least ask for a few more minutes to play, for a drink of water, or something like that. I think they both just want to please you," he assessed.

Brian shrugged. "Too bad everyone can't be like that."

"Like who?" Justin asked. "Isn't your prerogative to find people to please you?"

Brian ignored that question; not liking how Justin's playful remark brought forth regretful confusion inside him. "So when are the munchers going to be back?" he asked.

"They should be home a little after nine." Justin began to pick up the toys he and the kids had played with and smiled in thanks as Brian started to help him. "There was a meeting at the GLC they had to attend."

"The same one Arron went to?" Brian guessed.

"No, that was last week. I think. I don't know; he might've gone to tonight's meeting too. I haven't talked to him recently."

Brian grinned. "Really?"

Justin threw one of Jenny's stuffed Care Bears at Brian's head. "Shut up."

"I was just going to say that I think it's really fucked up that you haven't seen Eric in weeks, other than that surprise visit from him last week."

"What part of 'shut up' did you not understand?" Justin asked, throwing another stuffed animal at Brian.

"No need to get violent," Brian teased. "You obviously need a good stiff...oomph!" This time Brian threw the teddy bear back at Justin. "I was going to say drink!"

Justin grabbed for another animal and lodged it at Brian, hitting him in the face again. "I don't need a drink. Drinking would imply that I'm upset over not seeing Eric and I'm not."

Brian threw two stuffed animals at Justin and ducked under the couch as Justin sailed more his way. "Don't you think you should be upset about not seeing your boyfriend, or partner, whatever the fuck you consider him?"

"There's nothing to be upset about," Justin returned. "Oomph." He nearly fell on his ass as a large stuffed dinosaur hit him in his chest. Brian was going to pay for that.

"You're sure?" Brian taunted. "You sound really upset."

Justin launched himself over the couch and landed on top of Brian. "I'm not upset," he denied. He held Brian's wrists above his head and roughly pressed himself against Brian's body.

Brian had the wind knocked out of him so at first he was stunned and that had been the reason he didn't fight back. But the reason for him lying still under Justin's heavy weight grew into something else entirely as Justin's ass rubbed against his groin, awakening his dick to the feel of his bubble butt, urging it strain upwards in search of it.

"I wanna wrestle too!" Gus hollered, running toward Brian and Justin.

"Me too!" Jenny said, only steps behind her brother.

Justin almost flew into a standing position beside Brian. As Jenny and Gus attacked Brian he wondered why he'd been so quick to get up. They were _only_ wrestling. They were, so why should it matter if the kids had caught them? Justin didn't feel anything when he was so close to Brian, except annoyance. But if it was with himself or with Brian, he didn't know.

§ § § § §

Brian could tell that once they'd put the kids in bed that Justin was irritated. He suggested for Justin to leave, to go home and get some rest. He offered to stay until Melanie and Lindsay arrived home, but Justin insisted on staying. Brian had asked if Justin was going to meet him at Babylon, but Justin grunted a 'no' and Brian left.

It was too early for Babylon, so Brian met Ted, Blake, Michael, Ben and Emmett at Woody's. He and Ted were playing the third game of pool against Michael and Emmett, whom Ted and he usually easily beat. But not tonight.

"I want a new partner for the next round," Ted declared after Brian sank the cue for the second time that game.

Brian handed his stick to Blake. "Here, I'm going to get another round."

"Is something going on at work?" Michael asked Ted.

Ted had his ideas about what at work was bothering Brian, or who, but he kept it to himself. "No, just the usual client stuff."

"He's definitely got something on his mind. I've never seen him so distracted," Ben commented and kissed Michael's cheek. "No offense, but you two winning almost three straight games against him is a miracle."

Emmett grinned. "No offense taken. So I hope you guys won't take offense when I say that you all are as dense as my Aunt Lula's pound cake." Emmett glanced at Brian to make sure he was still occupied at the bar before he turned back to his friends. "Brian is distracted because _someone_ is missing tonight."

"Justin," Michael announced.

"Justin has a partner," Ben reminded the friends. "Nothing is going on between them."

"They're falling in love," Emmett whispered. "Michael, you see it too."

Michael nodded. "Of course I do. Brian's been acting strangely for months and it all started about the same time that Justin started working for him. They spend soooo much time together and…"

"I'm sure they're just friends, Michael," Ben said. "You and Brian used to spend a lot of time together too."

"Not like they do," Michael retorted. "I may not be completely sure about Justin's feelings, but I think Brian's in love with him. He just doesn't know its love that he's feeling."

"Judging from how he acted tonight," Emmett replied, "I'd say he's starting to realize it."

"I just hope Justin feels the same way about him, otherwise Brian's going to get hurt," Michael said.

"What about his boyfriend?" Blake asked, being diplomatic. "If Justin is in love with Brian, then it's going to be his boyfriend that gets hurt the worst."

Emmett and Michael stared at Blake as though he'd just told them that Santa Clause didn't exist.

"Sorry to be a downer," Blake said nervously.

"You care about everyone; you're definitely not a downer." Ted wrapped his arm around Blake and kissed him. "That's what I love about you."

Brian placed the tray of drinks on a table. "What's the matter with all of you?" he bitched. "You all look like you're the ones that just lost eighty bucks playing pool." Brian pointed to the array of shots and beers on the tray. "Get your asses over here and drink up."

§ § § § §

All Justin could think was that the man in front of him didn't look at all like a lawyer, not even an environmental lawyer. He had long, tangled sandy hair and wore an old cotton shirt and khaki shorts with holes in the pockets and a pair of flip flops that Justin thought looked like the ones prisoners were given. "It's nice to meet you, Sacha," Justin said, offering his hand.

Sacha didn't take Justin's hand, choosing to hug him instead. "I'm so glad we were finally able to meet, Justin. Eric has told me all about you."

"You too." Justin was on the verge of telling Sacha that he was all Eric talked about since they'd 'reconnected', but that would've sounded as if he were jealous. He wasn't. He couldn't be. Sacha had become Eric's best friend the way Brian had become his. Justin was happy that Eric finally made a friend that didn't appear to be a prissy bitch.

Eric was relieved that Justin didn't seem to immediately hate his friend. "Sacha isn't as cunty as Lawrence is."

Sacha laughed. "Yeah, I'm only a little bit cunty. I won't be harping on your SUV or your smoking." He lightly punched Eric's chest before addressing Justin. "Actually, if it weren't for all the good Lawrence does for the community, I probably wouldn't have anything to do with him."

Justin wasn't sure what friend of Eric's was named Lawrence; he thought they were all over-the-top environmental freaks, so he just smiled. However, it did piss him off that obviously what 'all about you' included anything Justin did that wasn't in the best interest of keeping a greener earth.

"I've made a veggie pizza," Eric said, ushering Justin and Sacha into the kitchen.

"It smells delicious, don't you think?" Sacha directed the question to Justin.

Justin nodded. It smelled good, but he doubted it would taste that way.

"I used some of the herbs from the community garden." Eric took the pizza out of the oven. "Justin will you get the plates?"

"Where are they?" Justin asked. Usually Eric had the table already set whenever they had dinner together.

"I'll get them," Sacha spoke, reaching into the top cabinet above the dishwasher.

Justin wasn't sure if it was a lucky guess, or if in only hanging out with Eric for a month, Sacha already felt more comfortable there than Justin ever had.

Justin's skin tingled with jealousy as Sacha whispered something into Eric's ear and then Eric smiled at him in a way that Justin rarely saw him smile. "He saw it today," Eric said loudly, answering whatever Sacha had asked.

"Who?" Justin asked, unable to stop himself.

Eric paused the slicing of the pizza and answered, "You, silly. He was asking me if I brought you over your surprise."

"Oh." Justin thought of the array of plants on his balcony and forced a smile. "It was really sweet."

Sacha looked at Justin with confusion. "Didn't you like them? Eric went to a lot of trouble growing them for you, repotting them…"

Eric put his hand over Sacha's for a moment and gave him a harsh glare. "Justin thinks he doesn't have a green thumb is all. He's worried he'll kill the plants."

"I just don't have the time to water them and everything," Justin defended. "I don't want my partner's hard work to go down the drain."

The tension from Sacha evaporated and he smiled at Justin once more. "I'm sure with as much time as Eric is probably at your place he can remember to water them if you haven't."

Justin nodded and chose not to tell Sacha that today's depositing of plants visit had been the first in over a month that went further than his kitchen. "Eric made me a list about when to water or give compost to them, so I'm sure I can handle it. I'll make time for it."

§ § § § §

"He made you an upkeep list for fucking house plants?" Brian wouldn't have believed it if he wasn't holding the laminated thing in his hands.

Justin grabbed the list from Brian and placed it back on the table beside the balcony door. "It's helpful."

Brian opened the door and looked down at the array of tiny plants. "There isn't even any room to walk out here."

"Oh, stop it," Justin ordered, though now he was laughing with Brian.

"One of these days I'm going to wake up to hear you screaming as you slip and fall off the balcony because you've tripped over one of the plants." Brian pulled Justin out onto the balcony with him, making them both be pressed against each other. "You see, this is all the room you have."

Brian's hazel eyes glittered light blue in the sunshine, Justin hadn't ever noticed that before. Wrapped in Brian's arms, their bodies perspiring from the late July heat, Justin shivered. "It'll be tight." He second guessed whether he'd said the words aloud or if he'd been able to trap them inside, where they belonged, but then Brian's eyes turned green again and Justin knew he'd spoken out loud.

Brian cleared his throat and turned Justin toward the door. "Be careful, Sunshine," he advised as Justin nearly tripped on the small step up. He needed to take his own advice but he couldn't. Brian realized that he was at the point where he could no longer stop the different ways that each and every part of his body reacted to Justin Taylor.

Tbc...


	8. August

[ ](http://galeandrandy.livejournal.com/153868.html)

  
**August**

_"So much of what we call management consists in making it difficult for people to work." - Peter Drucker_

Brian handed Justin his handkerchief. "Congratulations."

Justin looked at the cloth and then over to Brian. "Is giving someone your handkerchief some advertising tradition I don't know about?"

"No." Brian took it back from Justin and dabbed the sweat off Justin's face. "I could see you sweating during your whole acceptance speech."

"I was nervous and I had to keep getting up," Justin spoke with awe. He looked at the three Clio awards placed on the table in front of him. "I can't believe this. I haven't even been in advertising for a whole year."

"I believe it," Eric chimed in from beside Justin. "You were so dedicated at school; it obviously transferred to your work."

"You're a genius," Brian added.

Justin looked from Eric to Brian, smiling. "Thank you."

§ § § § §

"Come on," Justin begged, "you don't start school for another week, Eric."

"Exactly, school starts next week. I've got to get my sleep schedule synced with school, Justin. I'll go out for a drink with you guys to Woody's or something but…"

"All of our friends don't believe you exist," Brian said, putting one arm around Justin's waist and the other around Eric's shoulders.

Brian was only partly encouraging Eric to go out with them because he wanted to see Justin happy. This was fucked up in itself. The other reason, which he didn't want to admit to thinking about, was more demented. Eric could act like a buffer between himself and Justin. He wouldn't have to care about being with Justin every second they were at Babylon. Brian wouldn't have to analyze why he cared or why he'd rather dance with him instead of fucking a hot new arrival.

"What are you talking about?" Eric asked as they stopped in front of his car. "I've met a few of your friends. They know I exist."

"Well, they're not going to like you much after tonight," Brian quipped, beeping the alarm lock for his car.

"Shut up, Brian," Justin chastised. "If Eric doesn't want to go…"

"I want to go," Eric interrupted. "I just can't."

"We get it," Brian challenged. "Getting on your schedule, something that probably could wait one day is much more important than celebrating a HUGE achievement with your partner. Too bad Justin didn't feel the same way when he missed a staff meeting to go to your little award thing and then took you out for dinner and dancing afterward."

Justin ignored his heart twisting as Brian seemed so readily to encourage Eric's intrusion. Which really wasn't an intrusion at all because, HELLO! He'd been the one to invite him in the first place. Eric was his partner so it shouldn't be an intrusion at all.

"Brian," Justin warned. "This isn't any of your business."

"Right," Brian stated, walking over to his car. "It'll only be me you talk to about it."

Justin gritted his teeth to stop himself from screaming about the confusion he felt pulsing within him. He knew that hadn't just invited Eric because he felt like he'd ignored him through-out the award party, he really had wanted him to go. But the night would be so different if Eric was there. _Brian_ would be so different if Eric was with them at Babylon and Justin didn't want to deal with that, not tonight. He wanted it to be Brian whom he celebrated with and painstakingly realized that the only reason he had invited Eric was because he was so sure he wouldn't go.

"He's right," Eric said. "You supported me, even if you did fall asleep." Eric smiled as he kissed Justin softly. "I want to celebrate with you, tonight."

Brian hopped in the Vet and started the engine. "See you at Babylon," he yelled before pulling away.

Justin sagged against Eric. "Are you sure you want to come? I know you care about me, Eric. You've been a constant support to me since we met. You don't have to let him guilt you into going."

"He isn't guilting me into anything. I want to go. I haven't been clubbing in a long time. Come to think of it, I haven't been to Babylon since it was remodeled after the bombing."

Justin ran around to the passenger side of the Prius while telling himself to stop acting like an indecisive, ungrateful asshole. "Come on then," he said. "We're going to have a great time, I promise." Perhaps the promise was more to make himself believe it, but as soon as that thought entered his mind he buried it.

§ § § § §

"Thanks, Mira. The boards look perfect and I love the change you made by adding the green trim. It really ties the presentation together."

Mira blushed at the praise. "I'm glad you like it, Mr. Taylor. Is there anything else I can do before I leave?"

"Actually, if you could check our stock of supplies and email me what needs to be ordered, that'd be great. We've been so busy I haven't had the time to do it."

"I can do that," Mira replied, heading out of Justin's office. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Mira." Justin was extremely happy that Mira had become a perfect fit at Exhibition. All the staff respected her and things ran so much more smoothly than they had before with Anna as the Liaison. Business had picked up wildly since Brian had brought in so many new accounts, thanks to his mother's wedding and the contacts made at the Clio awards, which kept Exhibition extremely busy. Brian had been talking to him about possibly moving the business from the small floor they had in the downtown office building to a larger, stand alone location elsewhere.

Justin's cell rang and he was surprised to see that it was Daphne calling. They'd only spoken twice in the past month now that she'd been hired on at a private clinic and spent most of her time with Dr. Steven. "Hey!"

"Hey back, stranger," Daphne replied happily. "Are you busy?"

"I'm just getting ready to leave to go home. Why?"

"I just wanted to make sure I wasn't interrupting a big important dinner meeting or something."

"Nope," Justin said, closing down his computer. "So what's up?"

"Not much other than work and…"

"Steven," Justin filled in.

"Yeah," Daphne said in dreamy voice, "he's great."

"So I take it you have off work and he doesn't?" Justin asked.

"How did you know?"

"Well, that's the only time you're ever available to talk anymore."

"I'm sorry," Daphne said, "but we have to make up for lost time."

"I bet you do," Justin chuckled. "You should've just gone out with him in the beginning."

"I know, I know. But, things are good between us. So good that he's going to meet my parents when they come up here for Thanksgiving."

"Have you told them that he's white, yet?"

"He's a pediatrician. If they want to focus on his skin color and not on how he treats me and the rest of the world than it's their problem."

"So, you're not going to tell them? Does Steven know this?"

"Of course he does."

"So that's big plans to make when Thanksgiving isn't for a few months. Any other big plans I don't know about?"

"It's too early for any other plans, except that I plan on you meeting him. I wish you could come here or I could come there. But I'm saving up my days off for when my parents visit."

"Exhibition might be expanding soon, we're so busy. We've almost got more clients than we can handle. I don't think I could take a couple days off if I wanted to." The office phone began ringing. "I gotta run, Daphne. I think Brian's calling."

"I'll call you soon, love ya."

"Love ya too. Bye." Justin pocketed his cell and picked up the phone on the desk. "Hello?"

"Mr. Taylor, it's Karen."

"You haven't left yet?" Justin asked, checking the time.

"I'm just about to. A Mr. Eric Rockford is holding for you. Would you like to take the call?"

"Yes, thank you, Karen." Justin wondered why Eric was calling, it seemed like he'd been avoiding him for the last week.

"You're welcome, Mr. Taylor. I'll connect you."

He waited for the phone to ring once again before picking it up. "Hello?"

"Hey!" Eric greeted.

"Hey. You've finally called." Justin hoped he didn't sound jealous.

"Sorry, I've been so busy. What are you doing tonight?"

Brian was supposed to meet Justin to go to Babylon that night but he supposed he could cancel. "Nothing definite, why?"

"I thought we could hang out," Eric suggested. "I haven't seen you since we went to Babylon. You were right about me needing to go, I'm glad I went. I hadn't got to see you dance in a long time. I had a lot of fun with you and your friends."

"I'm glad you did. Maybe next time you feel up to it we can do it again?" he suggested, knowing it would be a long, long time before that happened.

"Yeah, definitely. I'd like to bring Sacha there one night. Do you know he's never been to any of the gay bars here in Pittsburgh?"

Why would Justin know that? It's not like he hung on every word the guy said, not like Eric apparently did. "I'm sure he went to better ones in New York and D.C."

"You're probably right. But I think he'd really like Babylon."

Justin changed the subject deliberately, but for reasons he refused to analyze. "So, how was the first week back at school?"

"It was great. We have a new curriculum this year so it's going to take some time to adjust to it, but this crop of freshmen actually seem like they have a passion for reading and writing."

"That's great. It'll make things much easier for you."

"Yes, it will. So are you almost done at Exhibition?"

"Yeah, I should be home in about a half an hour."

"Then say we'll hang out, watch some movies or something in about an hour?" Eric suggested.

"At my place?" Justin asked.

"Yeah, that'll work. I'll see you then, Justin."

"Bye." Justin felt a thrill of excitement at the prospect of seeing Eric. It had been a long time since just a simple phone call left him hard and dripping, and they hadn't even been talking about sex. Well, besides the suggestion about watching some porn movies. Justin was horny, which meant Eric was going to be in for one hot night.

§ § § § §

"We are experiencing tower disruption and can not reach your party. We thank you for your patience; please try your call again in a few minutes."

"I've been trying the call every three fucking minutes for the last hour!" Justin shouted into the receiver. He shoved his cell phone back into his pocket and paced the long hallway. "Of course the one fucking time I need to talk to you, you can't fuck receive calls! Now, instead of watching porn and getting my cock sucked I'm going to be worrying about you walking in at any moment!"

Justin stopped his ranting as he heard a knock on his door, it was obviously Eric since Brian would've just used his key and come right in. "Coming," he yelled walking down the hall to the kitchen and opening the door. "Hey, Eric…" Justin didn't need to worry; he wouldn't be coming anytime in the near future and Brian wouldn't be walking in on anything he didn't want him to see. "Sacha… come in."

Apparently, the 'we hang out' also applied to Sacha. Now, Justin hoped like hell that Brian would be stopping by. The last evening he spent with them had been the most boring night of his life.

§ § § § §

Justin had tried to call Brian for the hundredth time while taking a bathroom break, but was given the same recorded message. This time, he was trying to call Brian to make sure that he'd be stopping by. To save him from the most agonizing conversation and annoying repertoire he'd ever heard in his life.

After Eric checked on 'his' plants, watered them and asked Justin for details about their growth, which Justin pretended to notice. He'd ruled out watching the movie Eric had rented because Justin had just watched it with Brian the week before. While Justin ordered in Italian, veggie crap for Eric and Sacha, meet lovers lasagna for himself, Eric and Sacha found the 'Green' channel on his satellite.

Justin handled the first program about building a 'Green' home for some family who'd lost theirs in Katrina. But the next program was a biography about the guy who invented windmills. Eric and Sacha were in hero heaven and during every commercial they gabbed about how great the guy was and how far they'd come with wind-force technology. They hadn't even tried to get Justin in on the conversation and Justin had been glad they hadn't.

Justin had drunk one beer and had gone in the kitchen to make him a stronger drink when he heard the key rattling in the front door. As soon as Brian opened the door, Justin pulled him over toward the sink and put his hand over his mouth. "You have to save me," he whispered and took his hand off Brian's mouth.

Brian looked down at the pair of black sweat pants and the t-shirt Justin had on that sported the planet earth, obviously a gift from Eric. "I don't even think I could save you from this," he said raking his eyes up and down Justin's body. "Why the fuck aren't you dressed for Woody's and Babylon?"

"Eric brought Sacha over, to hang out. I was going to call and cancel with you but your phone is fucked up."

"Yeah, they're working on that," Brian grunted. "So what, you're ditching me?"

"No," Justin promised. "Eric goes to sleep early so he and Sacha will probably leave in a couple hours but for now I've got to be nice and entertain them."

"Then I guess I'll meet you there?" Brian tried, knowing what Justin wanted.

"No. You're going to come in here and save me from the green network and from most boring conversation in the fucking world. Then we're going to go out and you're going to get me so drunk I won't even know who invented the fucking windmill," he whispered.

Brian shook his head. "You were going to ditch me but now you need to be rescued?"

"Please?" Justin whimpered. "I promise I'll make it up to you."

"By coming to Deb's on Sunday for dinner," Brian supplied the offer. He'd been told to extend it a handful of times and hadn't. Brian had eaten dinner at the diner and Debbie 'forgot' to put his order in at the same time as his friends because he 'forgot' to ask Justin over for dine again last week. "She's been bitching at me for weeks about you coming. Apparently, once you become friends with not only me, but the rest of the boys, you're family. That means she wants to include you in on our weekly Sunday dinners."

Justin grimaced. "Fine. I'll go to one. But you know I usually spend all day Sunday painting."

"I know," Brian replied, opening the fridge. "I'll try and get her to switch it to Saturday next time."

"Deal," Justin agreed. "Grab me a beer too," he asked as Brian pulled a bottle out.

"What about your guests?" Brian asked.

"They won't drink," Justin huffed.

"Of course they will," Brian said, handing Justin a bottle of wine. "Grab some glasses and find a deck of cards."

"Uhm… why?"

"Cause the only way I know how to deal with do-gooder hippies is by forcing them to play drinking games."

§ § § § §

Neither Brian nor Justin was drunk, but Sacha and Eric were three sheets to the wind. They were light-weights and not getting lucking during the game "Thumb master", insured their constant consumption of wine. Justin and Brian had luck on their side with nearly every card they drew from the pile in the center of the table. It was Sacha's turn to draw the last card and Justin and Brian eagerly drank the five drinks assigned to them.

The moment Justin placed his beer on the table, Eric attacked him. He fused his mouth to Justin's, slung his leg over Justin's waist and started to dry hump him.

Brian and Sacha shared a 'what the fuck?' look before their eyes went back to watch the couple. Both of them having the same split feelings pulsing in their bodies. Eric and Justin were sexy together; their lips smacking, tonguing and groaning made both Sacha and Brian horny. However, that wasn't the only shared feelings between them, though they couldn't and wouldn't admit it that night, they shared a jealous passion.

"Eric," Justin breathed out the name the moment his mouth was free. He looked beside him and saw Brian staring at them. His predatory expression chilled Justin. He playfully pushed Eric back onto the couch cushion beside his own and chastised him, "We have guests."

"You trick together, what's the difference?" Eric asked, picking up Justin's hand and kissing it. "Come home with me."

Brian stiffened in his chair but then relaxed when he realized how tense he was to hear how Justin would answer. He had no reason to care if Justin went to his partner's house and fucked him all night. None.

"You're drunk," Justin said in a soft voice. "You need to sleep and I…" Justin held back Eric's kissing once more and looked at Brian. "Eric, I made a promise and I have to keep it."

Eric rolled his eyes and spread his legs, displaying his erection to everyone. "You also promised that you'd take care of me."

Brian knew that at that moment he should tell Justin that he wasn't obligated to keep the promise. Any good, decent friend would encourage their best friend to go home and fuck their partner instead of going out and fucking anonymous ass. But Brian's greedy heart controlled him, bolted his mouth shut and cut his breathing. He silently waited.

"Come on, Eric." Sacha abruptly stood and held his hand out to Eric. "I'm staying at your house tonight. My apartment's air is on the fritz, remember?"

Brian thought that even if Sacha had another motive to taking Eric home, he was still a better friend to Eric than he was to Justin.

Eric blinked a few times and smiled at Sacha. "Yes. You're staying overnight. Justin doesn't stay over."

Justin ignored that comment from Eric and helped him stand up. "Brian, call a cab," he ordered.

"I have a car," Eric insisted. "Sacha can drive."

Sacha took over holding Eric upright and kissed his cheek. "No, I can't," he spoke quietly. "We'll get a cab."

"And I'll drop your car off for you and put your key in your mailbox," Justin added.

"Okay, I love you," Eric announced drunkenly.

Brian wasn't the only one who wondered who it was that Eric was professing his love to.

§ § § § §

"I can't believe he lives in a place like that," Brian roared in laughter as he drove out of the gated apartment complex. "That's even more hetero than living in suburbia."

"Now will you stop making bullshit assumptions about why we won't live together? That is the kind of place Eric expects to live for the rest of his life!"

"So you're saying you couldn't compromise?" Brian asked.

Justin flipped Brian off. "I'm saying that Eric won't compromise. I'd be okay with living some where that was built 'greenly' but that place goes way to far. Eric has bigger plans, he actually wants to live in a house that has one of those purifiers that takes your piss and makes it into water."

"That's pretty fucking bad." Brian really wanted to ask Justin what the fuck he was doing with someone so crazy whom he had very little in common, but he restrained himself, as always.

"You don't even want to know what it's like to have to go outside the fucking gate to have a cigarette when it's twenty below! Eric wants to live in a subdivision like that!"

Brian tried to imagine Justin living somewhere so completely uninspiring. He'd definitely have to say something then if it ever looked like he was stupid enough to do so. "All right, get out."

Justin huffed. "Jesus, I'll shut up. You don't have kick me out."

Brian pointed down the alley across from where he'd parked on the side of the road. "Babylon's right through there."

"And why did you want to park all the fucking way over here? You have your own parking space!"

"Just get out of the car." Brian hopped out of the Jeep and waited for Justin to meet him on his side. "I didn't want to draw attention to myself. I have to sneak up on the employees and make sure the bouncers are doing their jobs."

Justin nervously adjusted his tight v-neck tank and eyed Brian. "Do you do that at Exhibition?"

Brian smirked. "I'd never tell you if I did."

§ § § § §

Justin had wanted to get drunk, high or at the very least buzzed tonight. But Brian had only 'allowed' them one shot and one beer a piece before he urged Justin to grab the dirty blond Justin had been watching dance. Brian had whispered dirty, nasty things in Justin's ear, while they watched the dancer, making it easy for Justin to give in and purposely catch the soon-to-be trick's eye.

The moment the dirty blond walked toward Justin, Brian chose the second-best fuckable man in Babylon and went for the stairs. Justin followed closely behind and as always they took their spots with the unspoken intention of watching the other get off.

Now, Justin was glad that Brian had curved his plans for the night. The dirty blond sucking his cock had a great technique and was more interested in extending Justin's pleasure than in getting to the fuck Justin had guaranteed him. For the first time since Justin began tricking with Brian by his side, he was more focused on the mouth around his dick than on Brian.

That was until he heard Brian ask, "What the fuck are you doing?"

Justin couldn't ignore the low, steely tone of Brian's voice. Immediately worried, he opened his eyes and tilted his head so he could see what had caused Brian's upset. He saw that Brian's overly muscular trick had one of his hands cupping Brian's balls.

"Keep your hands away from my balls," Brian ordered the trick, his voice hitching.

"Dude, I'm telling you, there's something wrong with one of your balls," the trick persisted, standing up and backing away from Brian. "I think you've got a tumor or something. Seriously, you need to get it checked out."

Brian stood still, unable to move, his face now expressionless and Justin's heart ached for him. He had to do something, something that wouldn't hurt Brian's carefully constructed image. He stepped backward, pulling his cock from the dirty-blond's mouth without warning or apology and walked over to Brian while he zipped up.

Justin glared at the muscle-stud and asked, "What are you on? I had his balls in my mouth a half an hour ago and I can assure you that they are perfect." Justin grasped Brian's cock and balls and tucked them into his briefs. "I think you've had too many doses of your steroids today and it's fried your brain. I'm sure everyone in this fucking place will tell you that Brian Kinney is perfect."

The muscle-stud's spray tanned face paled. "Dude, I'm sorry," he tried. "I guess your boyfriend would know…."

"Yeah," Brian said gruffly. "He would know. Maybe you're the one that needs to get checked out. Your hand was so sloppy stroking my cock I think you might've pulled a nerve lifting weights."

"Oh fuck, you might be right," the trick said, opening and closing his fist.

"Of course I'm right," Brian said smugly. "Now go find yourself a trick that doesn't mind a sloppy juice pig."

Justin was almost about to smile at Brian's renewed arrogance when he saw the murderous look Brian gave him. "Brian, I…"

"I'm ready to leave," Brian stated, grabbing tightly to Justin's hand.

§ § § § §

Justin had never thought that there was anything behind Brian leaving his balls trapped behind his underwear when he got a blowjob. It was something Justin had done many times, he always found that constraining them helped him last longer. He didn't always do it, but he didn't think Brian always did that either.

All past blow jobs Justin could remember seeing Brian receive filtered in an out of his mind as Brian drove them back to the loft. Justin could not recall one instance in the VIP lounge or in the backroom where Brian completely dropped his pants. Brian only shucked his pants to his knees or took them off when he was fucking. Then, he was in complete control and rarely did the tricks explore Brian's body without him slapping their hands away, something Justin had pinned down to Brian being playful. Not even when they went to the baths together did Brian allow a trick to make contact with any place on his body that he didn't carefully orchestrate. Justin had thought it was just Brian being his usual controlling self, it was probably partly that, but he now knew that there was definitely more to it.

"Do you want me to turn on the heat?" Brian asked, watching Justin shiver.

"No, that'd be insane. It's August."

"It may be August, but it's fucking freezing rain. " Brian clicked on the heater and gasped when it started to blow out cold air first.

"You just had to sneak up on your employees the night we'd get a freak thunderstorm," Justin teased.

Brian stopped at the red light and looked over at Justin. Some of the raindrops clung to him while others dripped off the ends of his hair and down his face to be kissed by his pouty lips and absorbed into his soft skin. Seeing Justin wet made Brian's need to touch him grow so prevalent that he almost gave in Justin's innocent seduction. He almost reached out and pulled Justin closer to him so that he could feel and taste all the places the rain was lucky enough to have unbound access to.

A car's horn honking from behind the Jeep reminded Brian to move the car forward and his thoughts away from the person whom he denied was anything more than a friend.

The heat barely kicked on before they reached the loft and it provided false comfort and deceptive warmth because the rain that poured down on them as they ran for the building's entrance shocked their systems. They could feel every drop hitting their skin and once they got inside, their shivering appeared worse than it had been when they'd first sought refuge from the storm after running out of Babylon.

§ § § § §

What did it matter if they were naked together in the shower? Brian and Justin tried to pretend like it didn't matter at all. Brian didn't soap Justin's back, even though he wanted nothing more than to heat Justin's skin by running his hands along it. Justin didn't wash Brian's hair, even though he wanted nothing more than to massage away Brian's tension with his fingers. They didn't even talk because there was nothing either of them could say to the other that wouldn't reveal the truth of their desires, what wasn't already revealed by semi-erect penises and 'I just can't help but stare at you' expressions.

After their shower, Justin shaved while Brian put on a pair of gray boxer-briefs and grabbed his stash box. When Justin came out of the bathroom, still only wearing a towel, he had to think of disgusting thoughts about his mother's sex life to stop his libido from rising any higher. Brian sat in the bed propped up against pillows while he lit a perfectly rolled joint. His simplistic actions had Justin's insides aching.

"I think the cleaning lady accidently put your gray sweats in my drawer again," Brian commented.

Justin took this to mean that he was to dress and did so without taking his towel off, as if Brian hadn't just seen him naked. "Can I have some of that?" he asked, crawling into the bed beside Brian.

Brian didn't reply, but handed the joint to Justin.

Justin took a long, deep hit and held it in as he passed it back.

"Are you trying to pass out?" Brian asked, seeing Justin's face turn red.

Justin let out the hit, blowing it up and coughing a little as he did. "Coughing makes you higher," he insisted. This was a debate that Brian and Justin often had whilst smoking pot.

"When you find me scientific proof of that, then I'll believe your hacking is for a good cause," Brian teased as he took small puffs.

"God this is nice," Justin sighed and wiggled around. "This was the longest day ever. I swear to you, the hour I spent with Sacha and Eric before you came over felt like a year. Have I thanked you for thinking of a game that they were guaranteed to get drunk while playing?"

"No, I don't think you have." Brian turned his head to smile at Justin as he handed him the joint. "They certainly put up a good fight about not drinking at first."

"But you can sell anyone anything," Justin complimented, blowing out his hit as he handed the joint back.

"Thankfully. Only next time I think we should play the game 'I never'. I bet if we would've played that those to near virgins would've been plastered a lot quicker."

Justin put his hands over his face in embarrassment. "I can't believe I got my partner and his friend drunk just so that they would leave."

Brian turned on his side and removed Justin's hands from his face. "It was your only course of action."

Justin blinked a few times and pushed Brian onto his back, he couldn't handle having Brian loom over him while they were in bed. It was counterproductive to his goal of not getting an erection just because Brian was lying beside him. Brian's smug laughter didn't annoy him as much as it should have, but only because Justin was thankful that Brian was laughing at all after what had happened at Babylon.

"So," Brian said, putting out the end of the joint in the ashtray. "Do you wanna play I never?"

"Only if you have another joint to smoke," Justin bargained, sitting up. "And I've got to get something drink."

"Get me a bottle of water too?" Brian requested, grabbing for his stash box.

Justin quickly grabbed a couple bottles of water and ran back into the bed. "Your floors are freezing," he explained when Brian looked at him as though he were a clown.

"Well you almost knocked this over," Brian bitched, pointing to the pile of ground pot.

"Sorry," Justin said sincerely, reaching over Brian to place his water on his side of the bed. "Did you get a new dealer? This shit is really mellow."

"New crop, same dealer," Brian said. "But it's creeper, so watch out."

Justin giggled excitedly. "I can't wait."

Brian rolled his eyes while rolling a third joint. "We're playing for tokes," he explained. "If you did it you take a hit."

"I do know how to play the game, Brian." Justin drank half of his bottle of water as he waited for Brain to finish rolling and hand him one of the joints. "We've played it like a hundred times."

"It's my pot so I get to go first," Brian said.

Justin shrugged in compliance; he was happy to have his own joint to smoke and really didn't care about the game at all. "Whatever. Go ahead."

"I've never fucked a woman." Brian watched as Justin took a hit at the same time as he did.

"You've fucked a woman?" Justin gasped. "Who?"

"Lindsay and I fooled around in college a few times, but I only fucked her once."

"Why?" Justin asked.

"That's not part of the game. Your turn."

"Aren't you going to ask what woman I fucked?" Justin asked.

"It doesn't take a genius to know it was Daphne. I bet you two girls made a lezzy pact when you were kids to be each other's firsts."

"Oh, fuck you. There wasn't a pact. And that's all I'm saying."

"That's more than I cared to know. Your turn."

"I've never sucked cock in public."

"Define public."

"Uhm… more than one person in a room?"

They both toked on the sweet tasting weed.

"Does it feel dirty and embarrassing to you to get on your knees and suck cock?" Justin asked curiously. "Because it does to me. The one time I did it, I hated it. The guy was grabbing my hair and fucking my mouth and I started to gag. It was really embarrassing. If it were Eric or someone I trusted I mind not hate it so much."

"I don't hate it, but I don't like it. It depends on my mood and the trick."

"Yeah, I guess. I've only sucked like a dozen dicks because I don't like taking tricks back to my place. It's a shame," Justin said thoughtfully, "because I really like sucking dick and I'm good at it too."

"How do you know you're good at it if you haven't sucked many cocks?" Brian wondered. "And I'm sure Eric wouldn't ever tell you if you sucked at sucking."

"That's not why, now your turn."

Brian was intrigued and a dirty, nasty, deliciously hot thought passed through his mind. He chuckled and said, "I've never sucked my own cock."

Justin's eyes widened and he slapped Brian's arm. "You're an asshole!" he yelled, but put the joint to his lips and inhaled.

Yeah. That pretty much put an end to any control Brian had on his dick NOT getting hard! "How did you do it?" he asked. He wasn't mentally imagining Justin naked, in various difficult positions while sucking his own dick. He wasn't. Oh fuck it! Anyone would!

"I'm not telling you. Eric doesn't even know I can do that. Or could. I haven't done it since I was a kid. I'm probably not even that flexible anymore."

Brian sorta just stared at Justin, wishing that Justin wouldn't have used the word 'kid' because now Brian was sure he actually WAS a pedophile. "Uhmm… like how old?"

"When I was teenager, like 17… or something. Can we drop it and move on to my turn."

"Yeah, we can." Okay, Brian could totally deal with 17. That was at least legal.

"I've never broken a bone." Justin watched as Brian took a hit. "You did? What one?"

"My collar bone. I went on the Liberty Ride a few years back, fell off my bike, had to take a plane back to the states instead of finishing off the ride," Brian explained. "It hurt like a motherfucker."

"I bet," Justin agreed, wincing.

"Hmm… okay, I've never taken Mister Classes," Brian laughed.

Justin glared while he took a hit but started laughing. "You're mean. How about you 'I never' something you at least don't know about me next time!"

"Fine, I will," Brian promised, knowing exactly what he was going to say.

Justin thought for a minute and took his own advice and said, "I've never been rimmed."

Brian raised his half-smoked joint to his lips slowly and stared at Justin, horrified when he took the smoke into his lungs and saw that Justin wasn't going to take a hit. "You're serious?" he asked in disbelief.

"Yeah."

With that answer, Brian was almost sure of the answer to his coming 'I never'. Justin Taylor had the most stellar ass Brian had ever seen and he couldn't imagine someone fucking Justin and not tasting him first. "I've never bottomed." He took a deep a hit as Justin's cheeks reddened and he turned his head away from him.

"Stop looking at me like that," Justin warned in a shy voice.

"Why haven't you ever bottomed?" Brian asked.

"I'm so not answering that," Justin groaned, lying completely on his back, staring at the ceiling.

"Why not?"

"When's the last time you bottomed?" Justin challenged.

"A few years ago," Brian said. "I may be a top, but a good top has to know how good it feels to have a cock in your ass."

"I know how good it feels," Justin said, turning to face Brian.

"How could you know if you've never been fucked?"

"Hello, you practically caught me fucking myself with my dildo, Brian."

"That's not the same thing," Brian returned. "At all."

"Have you ever seen any of the guys I've fucked complain?" Justin asked.

"No, but…"

"Then I can be a good top without ever bottoming."

"But you've been with Eric for what, eight years? He's never once tried to fuck you?"

"I'm not discussing Eric's and my sex life with you, Brian."

"We constantly talk about our sex lives," Brian said with exasperation. "I never would've thought in a million years that you hadn't ever bottomed for a real dick, that's all I'm saying."

"Whatever."

"You're really not going to tell me why?" Brian asked. "Do you have some fantasy that the guy you finally fall in love with…"

"No!" Justin hissed. "I don't have some fantasy about losing my virginity to the man I'm going to spend the rest of my life with or some hetero shit like that. It has nothing to do with a fantasy at all."

"Then what is it?" Brian wondered, his tone even gentler now that he saw how worked up Justin had gotten. "Did something bad happen to you?"

"No…no… god no," Justin groaned. "Nothing that bad."

"But something did happen?" Brian asked, getting more confused by the second.

"Yes, but… it's not what you think and I don't want to talk about it, okay?" Justin put the roach into the ashtray lying on Brian's stomach.

"Why not?"

"For the same reasons why I'm sure that you don't want to talk about what happened at Babylon tonight?"

"Do you have anal warts?" Brian asked.

"Fuck no!" Justin gasped. "It's not that nasty!"

Brian's eyes widened. "What? Do you have ass cancer or something?"

Justin burst out laughing. "God no!" he giggled. "I don't have ass cancer and it's called colon cancer."

"Yeah, thanks for the P.S.A." Brian placed his joint in the ashtray, placed it on the side of the bed and launched himself on top of Justin. He straddled his waist and held his arms above his head with one hand while he used his other to tickle Justin's ribs. "Tell me," Brian demanded.

Justin laughed and squirmed and tried to buck Brian off him but there was no use. He was so out of breath laughing so hard he was going mad from the tickling. "Okay, okay," he agreed. "I'll… tell you. But get off me…first."

Satisfied, Brian rolled to the side and urged Justin, "So?"

Justin sat up and crawled a little further down the bed. He looked over his shoulder and took a deep breath before asking, "Do you promise you'll never bring it up again?"

Brian felt like the air between he and Justin had become so heavy he could hardly get a good breath inside his lungs as he nodded his head in affirmation.

"When I was eleven my dad insisted that I go to camp that summer. These asshole kids from my bunkhouse were playing monkey in the middle and ended up throwing the ball into this fenced off area for the electric shack. I was designated to climb the fence and retrieve the ball. I didn't see the barbed wire until I got to the top and was swinging my leg over the edge of the fence." With shaking fingers, Justin lowered his sweat pants and fell forward on the bed, bracing himself with his left arm while his right twisted around to hold open his right ass cheek. "I got this," he said quickly, afraid to look at Brian, thinking about how disgusting the scar probably looked.

Brian's breath caught and he didn't let it out until Justin sat back up and began to pull his pants back up.

"Pretty disgusting looking, huh?" Justin falsely laughed as he turned to face Brian. "Eric… he's had a glimpse of it, I think. But he's usually more worried about getting his ass fucked and I doubt he wants to touch it anyway so…"

Brian bolted upright and held Justin's shoulders. "You're not serious, are you?"

Justin wouldn't look Brian in the eyes. "About what?"

Brian caught Justin's chin in his left hand and forced him to look him in the eyes. "Eric won't fuck you because of that scar?"

"I… I don't know. He's never even tried to touch me there and I probably wouldn't let him anyway. I haven't ever wanted that from him. Don't act like you just go asking your sexual partners to finger your ass."

Brian's right hand travelled smoothly from the small of Justin's back and dipped under the waistband of the gray sweats. "I'm going to touch you there," he warned. Brian stared unwaveringly into Justin's dark blue eyes, he hovered his mouth inches from Justin's which emitted trembling breaths against his lips.

Justin gulped and nodded before leaning forward and putting his face in the crook of Brian's neck and shoulder. "You won't tell anyone, will you?" he whispered, feeling Brian's warm hand brush against the crack of his ass.

"I'd never," Brian promised, tucking two fingers inside Justin's firm ass cheeks. He felt the small indentation brush against the back of his pointer and middle finger and Justin jumped, but he didn't jump away, he jumped toward Brian's body and squeezed Brian tight to him. "I barely feel it," Brian said honestly, his lips against Justin's ear. "Whatever you think it looks like, you're wrong. It barely looks like there's anything there at all, Justin."

"You're lying." Justin felt the pad of one of Brian's fingers brush against his asshole while the other stroked the scar tissue. "Brian." His voice shook as his spine exploded and fired goosebumps along his skin.

"You know that I wouldn't lie to you. If I thought there was something disgusting marring your beautiful ass I'd take you to a plastic surgeon and pay to have it fixed. But I'm telling you, Justin, I barely saw a mark and the only thing I can feel right now is…"

Justin popped his head up and pushed himself away from Brian. His heart beat in his throat, choking his breath away until he got far enough away from Brian. This was only about another foot unless he wanted to fall backward onto the floor, but it provided enough space for him not to feel that at any second he would be begging Brian for something he knew he shouldn't.

"Calm down." Brian placed his hand on Justin's shoulder and felt him shaking. "Why are you queening out on me? I know I didn't hurt you so…"

"You think I'm being ridiculous," Justin cut Brian off.

"A little," Brian admitted, smiling to take the sting out of the words.

Justin swept his long bangs out of his eyes and gave Brian a challenging look. "So if I touched you," he looked down at Brian's crotch and back up at his face, "you wouldn't mind?"

If Brian said, no, that meant Justin would touch him. He honestly didn't know if he'd have a good or bad reaction to that and either way, he'd reveal more to Justin than he wanted. But how would Justin feel if he said that he did mind? He'd probably be pissed that he'd trusted Brian and Brian didn't trust him. Since when did Brian start to give a shit how Justin felt? Brian didn't know how or when that happened. He had cotton mouth and told himself it was a result of the pot, not because of how incredibly nervous he was about what he knew he had to do.

He placed his head on the pillows, spread his legs and closed his eyes. With one word he gave Justin permission, "Okay."

Justin held his breath as he pulled the waist band of Brian's underwear to his thighs, only exposing what was necessary. He'd seen Brian's cock in the shower and many times before, but never before had his mouth watered at the sight of it. He had to remind himself that what he was doing wasn't sexual, Brian's cock was almost flaccid, and he wasn't even supposed to be looking at his dick. Justin didn't need to look to touch Brian's balls.

He glanced up at Brian's face and saw that he still had his eyes tightly shut. Brian did have a problem with letting him do this, but he was doing it anyway. Justin wondered if it was because he wanted to prove to Justin that he didn't have issues with it, or if it was because he needed to be touched, because Justin had realized that he had needed it. He needed the reassurance and he trusted Brian and now it was his turn to reassure Brian, if that was what he was looking for.

Justin dipped his hand in between Brian's thighs and slowly lifted his hand up, weighing Brian's balls in the palm of his hand.

Brian bit his lip, trying to stop himself from gasping, from bucking his hips or shoving Justin away from him. This wasn't him. He didn't feel all the fucked up emotions Justin's touch elicited. He didn't. He was stronger than the fear that he controlled into complacency for so long.

Justin gently curled his fingers around the sac that held the implant. He heard Brian take a sharp breath and saw his chest rapidly moving, pulling in air quickly. "Am I hurting you?" he asked.

Brian forced his eyes to open and he was surprised to see that Justin wasn't grossed out while holding the once-diseased sac. "Are you done?" he asked.

"In a minute," Justin replied, realizing he wasn't hurting Brian. Justin held Brian's cock up so that he could he properly look at his balls. "Am I holding the right one?" Justin asked to be sure.

"Like you can't tell?" Brian asked, sitting up.

"I think it feels a little bit heavier than your other ball, but there isn't a scar or anything."

Brian snorted and shoved Justin's hands away from him. "Just because I told you that I could hardly see your scar, doesn't mean you have to try and make me feel better about mine."

"I'm telling you the truth! And by the way, I've looked in the mirror and I've seen mine while shaving. Have you ever even seen yours?"

"I get waxed," Brian said, pulling up his underwear. He flipped the light off above the bed, grabbed the half-smoked joint from the ashtray and lit it. "Now we're even."

Justin couldn't believe Brian. "It wasn't about getting even, asshole."

Brian laid back and handed Justin the joint when he lay down beside him. "What was it about then?"

Justin sucked the joint and put it out in the ashtray before answering. "Friendship."

Brian bit back all of the sarcastic comments that wanted to explode out of his mouth.

"Good night, Brian," Justin whispered, rising and swinging his legs around the side of the bed.

Brian reached out and grabbed Justin's arm. "You can stay."

Justin laughed and looked at Brian over his shoulder. "You don't actually think I'm taking a cab home do you?"

Brian gently squeezed Justin's arm, released him and patted the pillow beside his. "I meant that you can stay here."

Justin gulped so loud in the silence he had to laugh at himself.

"Don't worry," Brian assured, "I'm not going to do anything to compromise your virginity."

Justin wondered how he could still blush after all that he'd done in front of Brian. "All right," he reasoned, "your bed is much more comfortable than your couch."

"Sofa."

"Whatever."

They shimmied under the duvet, turned on their sides and faced one another. Brian closed his eyes first and if he felt Justin's warm hand curl around his own, he could never be sure he wasn't dreaming.

Tbc...


	9. September

[ ](http://galeandrandy.livejournal.com/153868.html)

  
**September**

_This was work but it was the awakening to what was to become a life's passion.-C.Davis_

Cynthia sat in the chair at the head of the long conference table and addressed the employees, "Exhibition has brought on nineteen new clients since June and we are confident that our client list is going to continue to grow. Mr. Kinney, Mr. Schmidt, Mr. Taylor and I have discussed in detail what it would mean for Exhibition if we were to expand further. We feel it is necessary to expand if we are to have the means to provide our clients and any future clients the top-notch service we offer now."

"What exactly will we be expanding?" Richard, who worked as a researcher, asked.

"Brian, Ted and Justin will give you more details on what their roles in the expansion will be, Richard. As you all know, my job as the Account Planner/Executive is to insure that all of the departments within Exhibition coordinate smoothly. If you'll open up your folders, you will see that we have broken down our employee and department expansion into many new departments and job descriptions."

Cynthia waited a moment for the staff to look at the first page of contents. "I will be creating an Account Planning Department which I will head. I will be hiring one assistant whom will be assigned to every other department in the agency. Each Account Liaison will be responsible for insuring that the client's needs are met within their specialized department. If you are interested in applying for one of these jobs, please let me know as soon as possible." Cynthia nodded to Brian, indicating that he should continue the meeting.

Brian looked around at the employees and could tell they weren't very happy. "We will try to promote and hire from within before we bring in new hires for most of the expansion. However, there will be some instances that we must search for individuals whom are specifically trained and qualified for a certain job. This will most likely be the case for nearly every position in the new Media Department which Ted will be heading."

"I'm willing to consider some of you for the positions, but I will be looking for certain work experience and schooling that I don't believe any of you has," Ted said honestly.

Brian grinned proudly at Ted for a moment, surprised yet pleasantly so, that his friend had come so far. Ted Schmidt was more confident than Brian ever would've thought he'd be. "Yes, Olivia," Brian called on the woman when he saw her hand was slightly raised.

"I've only been here for two weeks; I work in production but also…"

"As a copywriter, yes," Brian interrupted. "I know what Justin and I hired you for."

Olivia blushed. "Well, I suppose it might not be in my best interest to admit this and it's quite embarrassing to say. But other than knowing about my specific jobs and whom I report to, I honestly don't know what the other departments are and where I will fit in. Could you explain that to me?"

"Justin," Brian fielded the question.

"Olivia, don't be embarrassed. Normally, I would've shown you around and explained things more thoroughly, but we've been so busy I haven't had the chance."

"Justin's been here almost nine months and he still gets confused about the way we run things," Brian teased.

Justin glared at Brian, even if it were a little bit true, he couldn't believe that Brian would say that in front of the staff. He smiled as he looked back at Olivia. "I have an hour after lunch free today and I'll give you the proper tour, all right?"

"Thank you, Mr. Taylor."

"I designed the Exhibition expansion pamphlet so that it would make all of our transitions easier to understand. Each new department we are creating is in Green, the departments and positions we have now are in Blue and the positions we will be hiring for are listed in red."

"Always an artist," Brian said, causing everyone to laugh except Justin.

Justin rolled his eyes. "If you would flip to page eleven you will see that there is a shift in the Art Department. Once our expansion is underway I will have the title of "Creative Director" and I will be considering a replacement for the Art Director. We will also slowly end our outsourcing as much as possible, blending in new hires and using fewer freelancers."

"I understand that many of you in the Art department were hired by Cade and have had difficulty showing proper respect to Justin. I am under the impression that your attitudes have been improving but you should be aware that any animosity you may feel toward him because he is a young man with fresh talent, ends this moment."

The room went silent and Justin desperately wanted to hide under the table.

"The only persons Mr. Taylor has to prove himself to is me, Cynthia and our clients. I can tell you right now that he's already done that and I have faith that he'll continue too." Brian got off on seeing the terrified looks on the employees faces and the blush coloring Justin's cheeks. "Because we will be doing a lot of hiring, it will not be that much of an inconvenience to replace you if need be. Justin?"

Justin sucked in a deep breath and tried to remember what else he needed to say. He figured that he might as well comment on what Brian had said. "I really do appreciate that lately we've been able to work as a team, but that wasn't the case when I first began working here. I hope that you will have better attitudes to our new hires…"

"That will do a lot to make the transition go as smooth as possible," Brian added.

"We're a team," Justin said, "the best team."

"We have a trophy to prove it," Cynthia added, lightening the tension in the room.

Justin grinned proudly. "And if we want another one like that…"

"Then we need to remain a close-knit company," Brian cut in. "Even if we have liaisons…"

"They can't do all the work," Justin added. "You have to make sure you schedule your time appropriately for each project."

"Communicate well with all of the staff and if you have a problem that needs to be discussed…" Brian gestured for Justin to continue.

"We'd like for you to discuss it in private with myself, Ted, Cynthia or Brian." Justin looked at Brian for the okay to close the meeting. "That concludes this meeting, we want to give you some time to go over the pamphlets and we'll meet next week to discuss any questions you might have."

"Unless there are any urgent ones anyone needs to ask us now?" Brian asked.

The employees all shook their heads or mumbled 'no'.

Brian stood and addressed his staff, "You will receive an email by the end of the day about our next meeting. Justin, could you follow me back to my office before you head off to lunch? I want to discuss something with you."

"Of course." Justin readily rose from his chair and followed Brian out of the conference room.

Ted gave Cynthia a relieved expression, happy that none of the staff went postal as he expected.

"Ms. Prescott?"

"Yes, Patty?"

"Well, we know it's not any of our business, but we've all been wondering for a while now….."

"Yes?" Cynthia urged her to continue.

"Are Mr. Taylor and Mr. Kinney a couple?"

Ted laughed and gathered his things. "I'll leave that one to you," he said, leaving the room as quickly as possible.

Cynthia looked around at the staff that was all waiting on the edge of their seats for her answer. "Mr. Kinney and Mr. Taylor's personal life is none of our business. It'd be wise to stay out of it."

"Of course," Patty said softly. "It's just that I'm getting married soon, so are Mira and Samuel, and we've been wondering if we are to address invitations to them separately or together."

Cynthia smiled and shook her head. "I can't speak for Mr. Taylor but I can guarantee you that Brian will have Karen get you a nice gift from him, without you having to invite him to your weddings."

"That's not why we want to invite him," Mira spoke up. "We think Mr. Kinney and Mr. Taylor are romantic and are so sweet together, you know?"

Cynthia was horrified. "No, I'm sorry I just don't see it."

"They are," Samuel put in. "If my fiancé treated me with care and attention they show one another, well, let's just say that it wouldn't have taken me so long to agree to marry him."

Ted listened from out in the hallway and he knew that if people who didn't even spend time with Brian and Justin outside of work were picking up on their chemistry, that it wouldn't be long before they both finally did something about it. Or so he hoped.

§ § § § §

Brian passed the soccer ball to Gus and shouted, "Go for it, Gus!"

Gus dribbled the ball toward Justin, faked left as he got closer to him and slid right, kicking the ball into the net. "I won! I won!" Gus cheered.

Justin, red-faced and in need of a drink acted as though he actually cared about the game. "I can't believe I lost," he whined.

Brian picked Gus up and swung him around. "Justin didn't have a chance against you, did he?" Brian asked.

"Nope," Gus giggled. Once Brian set him down, he gave Justin a serious look and advised, "Justin you need to practice more because I think you forgot how to play."

Brian started laughing evilly and Justin gave him a murderous look. "I've never even played soccer before," Justin defended.

Gus looked shocked. "Dad, you said he was a championship soccer player like you."

"Brian!" Justin kicked Brian's shin. "That was mean."

Gus put his hands on his hips and shook his head at his father. "You told me not to go easy on him. I wouldn't have made him fall so many times."

Brian felt a tiny bit bad, but Justin's red cheeks, dirty knees and the grass stains all over his clothes, including a huge spot on his ass, made the deception worth it.

Justin kicked Brian's shin again, making Brian double over and wince. "You deserve that."

"It's true, Dad," Gus said, "you really do."

"Grab your ball, Gus. I think we've all had enough sun today."

As they walked through the park toward the car, Justin was slowly trailing behind, glaring at Brian's back the whole time. As they reached the picnic area, Justin wondered if his day could get any worse.

"Well isn't this cozy," he mumbled.

"Justin!" Eric stood up from the blanket and gave Justin an enthusiastic kiss. "This is a nice surprise."

Brian eyed Sacha who was stretched out on the blanket, drinking a bottle of water. "How romantic," he taunted, gesturing to the picnic basket and array of food.

"Come join our picnic, Brian," Sacha offered and smiled at Gus. "Are you Brian's son?"

"I sure am," Gus said proudly. "We can't have a picnic though, Dad's taking us to the diner," Gus piped in. "I don't like any of that stuff."

Justin laughed. "It's fruit, cheese and crackers, Gus."

"That cheese looks moldy," Gus commented. "Eric, why do you always eat weird food?"

Brian laughed. "It's not weird, Gus, it's sophisticated," he said sarcastically.

"Why don't you stay with us?" Eric asked Justin, holding his hands. "I hardly ever see you now that school has started up again."

Justin looked down at Sacha who pasted on a welcoming smile. He wasn't an idiot, he was perfectly aware that Sacha had a thing for his partner. "Brian, do you mind?" Justin asked before passionately kissing Eric.

"That's fine," Brian said. "Just don't forget dinner tonight at Debbie's house."

"I won't," Justin assured.

"But I wanted you to eat with us," Gus said, confused as to why Eric and Justin were kissing the way they were. He wondered if Justin wanted to stay with Eric because his dad had been mean to him and was kissing Eric so much to make him mad.

"I know, buddy. But I'll see you tonight at Debbie's and we'll eat dinner together. Besides, look at my clothes, I can't exactly go inside somewhere and eat like this. I'll have to go home and change later; you go and have fun with your dad."

"All right," Gus said, pouting. "Will you still draw with me at Grandma Deb's house?"

"Definitely." Justin gave Gus a hug. "I'll make sure I bring my sketchbook and pencils okay?"

"Okay," Gus mumbled.

"Come on, Sonny-boy," Brian encouraged. "I'll let you get an ice cream bar from the vender before we go to the diner."

"But I'll spoil my lunch!" Gus gasped. "Mom will kill you."

"Only if you tell her," Brian remarked. He patted Justin's shoulder and whispered in his ear, "Have fun hanging with the hippies. I think you'll fit right in."

Justin punched Brian in the chest; certain he'd leave a mark. "Yeah, thanks to you."

§ § § § §

"Dad, you really made Justin angry," Gus said from the passenger seat of the Jeep.

"I was just messing with him. He isn't really mad. Justin and me tease each other all the time."

"Really?"

"Yeah, really."

"But… but he was kissing Eric."

"What does that have to do with anything?" Brian asked, pulling into a free parking space beside the diner.

"He wasn't kissing him like you kiss Mom or Uncle Mikey."

"That's because they're boyfriends, Gus."

"But I thought you and Justin were gonna be boyfriends! And I never saw them kiss before. When did they fall in love?"

Brian was surprised at how confused and upset Gus was. "When you met Eric, didn't Justin introduce him as his boyfriend or partner?"

"I don't think so," Gus said.

Brian sighed. "Well, they are boyfriends, buddy. Justin and I are only friends."

"Are you sure you don't love him?" Gus boldly asked.

Brian ignored that question because it wasn't like he was going to tell Gus what he thought of 'romantic love'. "I'm sure that Justin and I are friends, Gus."

§ § § § §

Michael looked up from the comic book he was reading as the bell above the door to the shop chimed. "What are you doing here?"

Brian gave Michael a wiry smile as he walked over to the counter. "Can't a guy visit his best friend on his day off work?" He gave Michael a chaste kiss and took off his sunglasses. "I went by your house first and Ben told me you were here."

"Jacob called in so I'm waiting on Alex to show up," Michael said. He refrained from commenting on Brian's best friend remark, it was apparent to him that these days, Justin Taylor filled that position.

Brian grabbed the comic from Michael's hands and flipped through it. "How many times are you going to read this?" he asked.

"Did you really drop by here to make fun of my Captain Astro obsession?"

Brian stuck his tongue out. "I was bored."

"So where's Justin?"

"How should I know?"

"Well, I think you've spent every Saturday with him for… well probably since he started working for you."

"Whatever."

"You're always together."

"We work together." Brian put back on his sunglasses.

"Uhuh." Michael quickly grabbed the glasses from Brian. "I know something is going on with you two. You like him."

"As much as I like you," Brian deadpanned.

"I'd hope not, or we might have a problem."

"I'm getting really tired of having to remind people that Justin has a boyfriend," Brian groaned.

"Really? Well who exactly have you had to tell that to besides yourself?"

"Fuck off, Michael."

"Brian, if you like Justin, then you need to go after him."

"I'm not in junior high, Mikey. I don't need your advice on how to pick up guys."

"I'm not telling you how to pick him up. I think you've already done that. I wish you could've seen you two at Mom's last week. You guys have so chemistry between you that you don't even know what to do with it. And Ted said…"

"I'm going to fire him."

"You're not," Michael stated, grinning. "Ted said that you two are strictly professional at the office."

"What? You've all been talking about me?" Brian almost said 'us' but there was no 'us'.

"Of course we have. You're our friend and we want to see you happy. Now listen to me. Are you listening?"

Brian laughed dryly; it was usually him asking Mikey that. "Yeah, I'm listening."

"Ted said you two were professional at the office and wouldn't say anything else. I bet that's because there he sees the same thing the rest of his see and he didn't want to piss you off."

Brian snorted. "Is this where I'm supposed to ask you what it is you all see?"

Michael rolled his eyes. "You don't have to ask. You know what we see because you're smart enough to see it for yourself."

Brian took a deep breath before asking, "And if what you're saying is true, what am I supposed to do about it?"

"What do you want to do about it?"

"I don't know."

"He never talks about Eric, Brian," Michael said pointedly. "It isn't normal, not for a guy that's been with someone for eight fucking years."

"And?"

"He talks about you. When I had lunch with him last week you were the main topic of conversation."

"Aren't I always?" Brian joked.

"With him. I had no idea exactly how much time you two spent together, Brian. Do you even realize that you spend more time with Justin than you spend fucking?"

"Maybe I should remedy that?" Brian suggested.

"Maybe you should put your money where your mouth is and actually do what you want for once," Michael challenged.

Brian glared. "How in the fuck do you know what I want? I don't…"

"_You_ know what, or should I say WHO you want. Go after him."

"I don't go after anyone," Brian protested. "You know my rules."

"You're Brian Kinney for fucks sake! You know as well as I do that rules were made to be broken."

"He has a boyfriend… a partner that's he's been with for over eight years," Brian protested. "What the fuck would he want with me, Mikey?"

"I don't know Justin too well, but it seems to me like he's comfortable. He doesn't have to try to be with Eric and I'm sure he knows that he's going to have to try awful hard to be with you. If he thinks he even has a chance. Knowing you, you've spouted off your rules about love and relationships and unless you do something about it, he'll probably stay with Eric because that's the safe bet."

"Thanks, Mikey. You sure know how to make a guy sound worthy," Brian snapped.

"That's the problem!" Michael yelled. "You don't think you are worthy, Brian. But you're wrong and I'm sure Justin thinks you are. But he's probably too scared to go after you. He told me how freaked out he was just becoming friends with you because you're his boss. I bet it scares the shit out of him to think about being in a relationship with his boss."

"Fuck!" Brian pounded his hands on the counter and asked. "So oh so wise, Mikey. What do I do?"

"I can't tell you exactly what to do, Brian. But I suggest you accept the fact that you want something with Justin. You show him that you know you're worth it, you're worth taking a risk, that whatever you two might have is probably a hundred times better than that pseudo relationship he's got with his boyfriend."

"What if…" Brian felt vulnerable and there was no worse feeling for him. "What if he doesn't have the balls to take the risk?"

"He does, you have to show him he does. And if I'm fucking wrong about him, than he's the one that's not worth it, Brian."

Brian's cell phone rang but he didn't make a move to get it out of his pocket and answer it.

"Aren't you going to get that?" Michael asked.

Brian sighed and reluctantly answered the cell. "Hey."

"Emmett and I are having lunch; I was going to see if you wanted to…"

"Can't," Brian cut Justin off. "I'm having lunch with Mikey. Later." He flipped the phone closed and pocketed it.

"We're having lunch?" Michael asked, confused. "Was that Justin on the phone?"

The bell of the shop rang and Alex walked in. "Hey, Michael."

"Hey. Thanks for coming in a little early."

Alex shrugged. "Not a problem. I need the extra money."

After leaving instructions with Alex, Michael pulled Brian out of the shop and immediately grilled him. "What did Justin want?"

Brian ignored the question. "The diner?" he asked, jingling his car keys.

"That's fine," Michael grumbled. Once in the car he persisted on questioning Brian, "So what did Justin want?"

"Jesus Christ! I don't have to tell you everything."

Michael smiled to himself. "He really gets under your skin huh?"

"Shut up," Brian warned.

Michael allowed Brian a small reprieve as they drove to the diner. But as soon as he got out of the car, he asked again, "What did he want?"

"He wanted to meet for lunch," Brian growled as they walked to the diner's door. "But I told him I couldn't. Now drop it."

Michael shook his head at Brian's stupidity but silently agreed not to say anything. As luck would have it, the moment they stepped into the diner and he saw who was sitting with Emmett, Ted and Blake, he couldn't help himself. "Well, it looks like you're gonna have lunch with him whether you want to or not," he snickered.

Brian tried to remain emotionless as he caught Justin's eyes. Justin smiled at him, a big, open beautiful smile that he never gave anyone but him. Brian's lips twitched until the feelings he was fighting over took his sense and he smiled brightly too. He knew he was fucked and he intended to do something about it.

§ § § § §

Brian had been avoiding Justin. Again. With the exception of discussions they had to have which was work related; he hadn't spoken to Justin in over a week.

Justin wasn't too bothered by this. He'd become accustomed to Brian's mood swings. Brian was extremely busy with hammering out the details for Exhibition's expansion and Justin was sure that he'd come around and things would go back to normal soon.

Justin filled his 'not hanging out with Brian time' by spending a lot more time with Eric than he usually did. Eric _and_ Sacha. Sacha, who had unknowingly spiced up he and Eric's relationship. Justin couldn't tell Eric that he didn't like Eric hanging out with Sacha and he was confident that Sacha and Eric weren't fucking around together. But he knew that given the chance, Sacha would most definitely take a shot with Eric if he could.

Justin felt Sacha's jealousy every time the three of them hung out together, but he ignored it. Sacha was a really nice guy and didn't flirt with Eric or try anything with him. Justin was pretty sure that Eric was oblivious to the torch Sacha carried for him. But Justin saw it, and it renewed his possessive side. He almost wanted to keep Sacha around all of the time because of this fact. Justin was an asshole. He knew he was, but he was too busy being glad that his relationship with Eric was finally starting to feel right once again to care.

Justin left Eric's and immediately found himself entering the VIP room at Babylon. He hadn't seen anyone he knew on the dance floor and none of the guys looked enticing so he guessed that the hot ones were already upstairs fucking. He walked around the space, his dick throbbing, begging for attention as he watched groups and couples kissing, sucking and fucking throughout the room. He didn't make eye contact with anyone, wanting to find the perfect trick for the evening.

A small Spanish boy caught his attention. He was on his knees sucking…. Brian of course. Justin almost laughed but held it in. He saw Brian's head rise from looking down at the trick and their eyes met. Justin shivered from the feral look and his dick wept pre-come into his briefs.

Brian pulled his cock out of the trick's mouth and roughly turned him over the side of the sofa in front him. He only diverted his gaze from Justin long enough to slip a condom on his cock and push into the willing ass.

Justin was sure that Brian was trying to make him jealous but that observation seemed so silly. Justin had watched Brian fuck a hundred guys and he had nothing to be jealous of. So what if Brian was fucking the guy with more passion than Justin had ever witnessed him give out. So what if Brian was kissing the back of the guy's neck in a way that bordered on tenderness. It had nothing to do with him. So what if Brian seemed to be challenging him? He didn't even know that they were playing a game, but he knew that it was a game and he could play too.

Justin cocked his head to the side for just a split second and nodded at a brunet with a great ass who'd just walked in. He gave him a lustful stare that the guy couldn't ignore and in second he had the trick bent over the opposite end of the sofa and was slamming his dick up his ass.

Tbc...


	10. October

[ ](http://galeandrandy.livejournal.com/153868.html)

  
**October**

_Every noble work is at first impossible._ Thomas Carlyle

"Hi, Cynthia," Justin greeted cheerfully as she walked into his office.

"Hey, Justin. I need to talk to you about something. Do you have a minute?"

"Sure, I was just finishing the graphics for the Remson power point presentation." Justin saved his work and closed the program.

"Brian will be happy about that. Mind if I shut the door?"

"That's fine," Justin answered, now worried at the serious tone in her voice.

After closing the door, Cynthia sat in one of the chairs in front of Justin's desk. "All right, I'm just going to come out and ask."

"Okay…" Justin said nervously. His mind started going a mile a minute, wondering if there was anything he'd recently fucked up on.

"Did something happen between you and Brian?"

"Uh…no." Justin refrained from telling Cynthia that last weekend Brian and he had unmistakably eye-fucked each other while they fucked other men. He couldn't tell her that, not only because he didn't think it was her business, but because he told himself that what happened that night had been no different than the other nights he and Brian tricked together.

"I've noticed…" Cynthia sighed and leaned over the desk. In a whisper she continued, "Everyone has noticed that you and Brian have been off."

"I think Brian is stressed about the expansion, that's all." That's what Justin told himself anyway.

Cynthia sat back and gave Justin a look of disbelief. "Come on. Out with it. What happened with you two? Brian's been moping around the office for the last couple of weeks. The last time he did this, you actually acted like you cared, but this time you don't seem too concerned."

Justin was getting a little pissed but tried his best to cool down. "Cynthia, I don't know why Brian's avoiding me and moping around the office. I really think it's stress."

"So he _has_ been avoiding you?" Cynthia asked this but it came out as an accusation.

"Look, I don't know what you want me to say. Has our work been suffering because Brian has suddenly decided that he wants some space?"

"No," Cynthia replied honestly. "But I'm worried about him. When he mopes I start thinking that maybe the…."

"The cancer isn't back," Justin interrupted. "He would tell me. Even if he is avoiding me right now, he would tell me."

"You know about that?" Cynthia asked, completely surprised.

Justin nodded.

"You're sure he'd tell you?"

"Positive. Even if he is avoiding me."

Cynthia smiled. "So you're sure nothing major happened?"

"Nothing. Maybe being around me day and night got on his nerves and he needed a break. I can respect that. Before I met him, the only person I hung out with on a regular basis was my partner."

"Well if you're sure that he's all right, I'll leave you alone about it." Cynthia stood up and made her way to the door. She felt like the conversation had pretty much been pointless. Justin Taylor was locked up just as tight as Brian Kinney.

"I'll let you know if I do find out anything," Justin assured.

"Thanks," Cynthia called over his shoulder as she disappeared into the hallway.

Justin dropped his face in his hands and groaned in annoyance. Since when did Brian's mood and attitude have anything to do with him?

Whatever the reason Brian was avoiding him, Justin didn't really care to know. Things between them were getting too complicated and friendship wasn't supposed to be complicated. He didn't feel like being around Brian either and he definitely wasn't going to follow him around begging to know what was wrong. He knew he'd fucked up the last time that Brian ignored him but he hadn't done anything this time, so why the fuck should he care?

"Hey, baby."

Justin almost fell out of his chair hearing the term of endearment. "Hey." Justin wondered if he should tell Eric to never, EVER call him baby again. He could've sworn that they'd had that conversation. "What are you doing here?"

"I had to get some supplies for class at that teacher's store down the street," Eric replied, walking around Justin's desk.

Justin pulled on Eric's tie, leading the man to kiss him. "Shit!" he gasped, pulling away as he was shocked.

"I must've rubbed my feet too much on the carpet."

"You think?" Justin asked, rubbing his lips.

"Jeez, you're in a mood. I guess you didn't get much sleep last night." Eric walked behind Justin's chair and placed his mouth beside his ear. "You've been fucking me so rough lately; it makes me think about you all day."

Justin wanted that to be a compliment to his technique, he knew Eric's sexy voice and the way his hand was trailing down his chest were supposed to turn him on. But what it was that usually connected them was missing. He knew it had been missing for a while, which was probably why he used the jealousy he felt about Sacha to fill the missing space between he and Eric. But now, all the jealousy and dirty scenarios in Justin's head had absolutely no effect and did nothing to create a positive spark.

"Hey, Sunshine. Karen just reminded me that we've…" Brian paused and pasted on a smile.

"Hi, Brian." Eric straightened up.

"Arron, how nice of you to drop by," Brian greeted dryly. "I hope that you're not breaking your promise," He directed at Justin, giving him a private smirk.

Justin hated that he felt so fucking happy just because Brian walked in his office and gave him a flirtatious smile. He hated that Brian's term of endearment was just fine to him and that he easily accepted the mushy feeling that he felt inside whenever Brian said it. It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair to Eric. The way he felt seeing each one of them in his doorway was scores different. "I'm not," Justin answered. "I think Eric was just leaving?"

Eric grimaced. "Sorry, I didn't think it'd be a big deal to stop by."

"It's not," Brian assured him. He gave Justin a 'what the fuck' look but Justin didn't acknowledge it at all.

"Well I'm trying to meet your deadline for the Remson account," Justin said.

Brian had no idea why Justin was lying. He hadn't exactly been sharing the same space with him lately so he guessed that there was trouble in paradise once again. "Right… we can talk about that later."

"So are you and Sacha doing something together tonight?" Justin asked Eric.

"No. He's going to his mother's for dinner. I thought you and I could spend a quiet night in at my place."

"He can't," Brian said quickly, "we're going to Justin's mother's house for dinner. That's what I was coming to remind you about. Karen reminded me and since we haven't seen each other much I wanted to make sure you hadn't forgotten."

Justin had forgotten, but he lied, "I didn't." Guilt propelled him to ask, "Eric, do you want to come along? You haven't seen my mother in a while, I'm sure she'd love to see you."

Eric liked Jennifer and Tucker, he even liked Justin's little sister, but adding Brian to the mix wasn't something he cared for. "Maybe next time," he answered, leaning down to kiss the top of Justin's head. "I've had a long day and I'm kinda tired."

Brian didn't mentally stick his tongue out at Eric and cheer inside. He didn't. Cause that would be much too childish for him and much too revealing.

"You're sure?" Justin asked, only to be polite. He hated sitting in the middle of Brian and Eric when they had dinner at Lindsay's house, he hated sitting in the middle of Brian and Eric during the advertising awards and he knew that was where luck would have him placed at his mom's table.

"Yeah, I'll head home now. Call me tomorrow if you decide you want to go to the conservation fair with us."

Justin definitely didn't see himself spending his Saturday with Eric and his other hippie friends. But to be nice, he said, "I'll call you if I change my mind."

Eric kissed Justin goodbye, using an unusual amount of tongue in the process and walked cockily toward the door. "Bye, Justin." He nodded. "Brian."

"Have fun at the fair." Brian rolled his eyes and shut the door behind Eric. "How is it that all these hippies run around picking up trash and talking about making the world cleaner when they can't even keep themselves clean?"

Justin felt so happy whenever Brian bitched about Eric's obsession and the hippies he surrounded himself with. It was probably horribly wrong how much he loved it when Brian made fun of Eric, but he couldn't help feeling so good that someone felt the way he did about it. He felt obligated to defend him sometimes, especially when Brian grouped Eric in with the smelly, unclean hippies. Eric was the total opposite, he was a clean freak, and he rarely got dirty unless he was gardening. Eric was more uptight about body cleanliness than anyone Justin had ever known. "Eric isn't a dirty hippie, Brian. I wouldn't fuck a dirty hippie."

"Yeah well, with the exception of Arron and his hot lawyer, who by the way needs to comb his fucking hair, they're all disgusting. They bitch and moan about what they should or shouldn't eat because they don't want to harm their bodies, but then they won't shower for a week and end up getting lice in their dreadlocks."

At this point, Justin had no choice but to laugh his ass off. When Brian was right, he was right. He also wondered when he'd stopped correcting Brian on Eric's name, not that Brian always called him Arron, but he supposed maybe it was just a friendly term of endearment at this point. Yeah. Right. "I missed you, Brian." Had he really said that? Justin wasn't too sure. He stopped laughing and frowned as he internally freaked out.

Brian smiled softly and accepted the fact that his heart felt as if it were swelling inside his chest. There wasn't much he could do about that anymore. He sat on the edge of Justin's desk sideways and spoke in husky tone, "I missed you, too."

Justin's smile returned.

"You've been spending so much time with Arron," Brian commented, rubbing his fingers through Justin's long hair. "I was sure you'd show up to work one day with dreadlocks and a hemp bracelet."

Justin cocked his head to the side and Brian's hand fell down his shoulder and skimmed over his chest for a split second before he jerked it away. Whatever was missing elsewhere wasn't missing here. "I'd never do that to you."

Brian stood, desperate to put distance between himself and Justin. "Dinner is at six-thirty. Do you want to drive over to your Mom's together?"

Justin wondered if this was going to be the beginning again. Would they go to Woody's and Babylon after dinner? Would they pick out tricks for one another? Would they fuck them together? Would they leave Babylon together? Would they eat late night diner food together surrounded by hustlers while listening to Debbie gossip? Would they go back to one of their places and stay up late talking, watching porn, working or smoking pot until one of them passed out or stumbled to the bedroom? Would they wake up in the morning and do it all over again, and again and again? Because that's what Justin wanted. He could accept wanting nothing more. He could! He could damnit!

"Hellooooo?" Brian waved his hand in front of Justin's face. "What are you thinking about?"

Justin blinked and his eyes focused on Brian's face. "Yeah, we can ride together." Riding home together could mean that Brian would just take him back to the parking garage after dinner and have Justin retrieve his car then. Or it meant that they'd be spending the evening together and Brian would be driving him to pick the car up in the morning, or maybe leaving it there until Monday because their plans for the weekend involved the both of them and it was easier that way. They'd done that a lot during the summer because Justin usually tagged along to hang out with Brian and Gus. Justin had even gotten to drive Brian's precious Corvette a few times, though he usually bitched about the way Justin drove until Justin wanted to go back to the loft and get the Jeep.

"We can go back to the loft and change before we go out," Brian offered.

Justin wasn't lighting up inside at the prospect of spending all night with Brian. He wasn't. He couldn't be. It was fucking horribly wrong. "Okay."

"Be ready to leave at six," Brian advised and left Justin's office.

Justin banged his head on the desk a couple of times. All the fucked up feelings inside of him was exactly why he hadn't wanted to become friends with his boss. There were rules; ground rules that he was sure Brian wouldn't break. Lines that Justin had no intention of crossing had become so fucking blurred he had no idea where they started and ended. He was fucked, fucked, fucked!

§ § § § §

"I want you to come see an old bathhouse. I think it has everything you need and are looking for."

Justin spit his coffee all over his mother and the papers she was extending to Brian beside him.

"Nice going, fuckwad," Brian bitched.

"Don't call me that in front of my mother!" Justin yelled.

Jennifer laughed and looked down at her designer purple blouse that was no doubt ruined. "Oh shut up, Justin. I've heard worse from your mouth when Daphne would come over and you two didn't think I could hear you."

Tucker was standing behind Jennifer, looking at his wife with big wide eyes. "Should I get you some club soda or something?"

Jennifer turned and kissed Tucker's cheek. "No, I'm going to go change my clothes. I don't think the coffee is going to come out."

"I'll make Justin buy you a new one," Brian offered.

"You don't have to _make_ me buy my mother anything, Brian," Justin snapped. "I'm sorry mom, but next time you're going to talk about a bathhouse, you need to warn me in advance."

Tucker laughed and agreed, "It was out of nowhere."

"I expect a straight guy to be a bit prudish," Brian teased Tucker. He gave Justin a light shove with his elbow. "But not you, I mean…"

"I'm going to go change," Jennifer interrupted and dropped the papers in Brian's lap. "I don't think the ad is as damaged as my blouse, have a look."

"Do you want me to get you some more coffee?" Tucker offered.

Justin nodded and smiled. "Yes, thanks."

Once Justin and Brian were alone, Justin asked Brian, "You're not actually considering a bathhouse for Exhibition, are you?"

"I'll want to see it in person first, have a look at it." Brian handed Justin the listing. "I don't want anything conventional, we have that now and it doesn't work. If we moved here, we'd have an edgy work environment."

"Oh, I'm sure it'd inspire you," Justin laughed, looking at the photos. "It'd take a lot of work to remodel all three floors."

"Yeah, but our lease isn't up on the space we have now until March. If I get a kick ass contractor, I'm pretty sure we could be in the place by then."

"If you like it after you've seen it in person," Justin reminded.

Brian laughed. "Oh, I've seen it in person plenty of times."

"I bet you have." Justin read the information. "The location is great. It's not like there's tons of clubs and bath houses surrounding it."

"Your mother did a good job," Brian praised. "I can't say it's what I would've ever expected her to suggest, but I think it could work."

Tucker came back in the room and handed Justin his coffee.

"Thanks, Tucker."

"Your mother had me go with her the first time she viewed it. There's a parking garage across the street and a bus stop on the next block so it'd be easily accessible for your employees and clients," Tucker commented.

Justin did not want to imagine his mother and Tucker in a bathhouse. "I've never been to that one." He honestly couldn't recall if he had or not, but just for Tucker's sake he said it.

Brian snorted.

"And this is where I take my cue to clean up the dinner dishes," Tucker muttered before slipping away.

Justin sported an evil grin.

"You really are a fuckwad," Brian told him. "The poor guy kisses your ass and you behave like a jealous teenager."

"Whatever," Justin huffed. "I could act a lot worse. I could actually be rude and mean to him like Molly is."

"Or you could behave like an adult and appreciate the fact that you have two parents who love and support you."

"Tucker is not my parent; he's practically the same age as me." Justin shuddered.

"He's your step-father," Brian pointed out teasingly. "And there's about the same age difference between him and your mother as there is between me and you."

"Yeah, well I'm not marrying you, Brian."

§ § § § §

Brian didn't believe in marriage and he didn't want to marry Justin Taylor. Why, after a night of dancing, drinking and fucking was he thinking about the statement Justin had made at his mother's house was anyone's guess. Why he'd ventured into being pissed off at Justin since that moment, he didn't have a clue. He tried to stop, to put it behind him, but every time he looked at Justin, the words played in his head like a broken record.

"Brian, you really should've fucked that guy when I was done with him," Justin said. "His ass was perfect."

Brian debated dropping Justin off at his apartment, but Justin droning on and on about the blond who he declared had the most perfect ass he'd ever fucked, caused Brian miss the turn. "I've had better," he responded, wishing Justin would shut the fuck up.

"I thought you said you hadn't fucked him?" Justin asked, his words slurring together.

Brian wondered if Justin would notice if he turned around and if he'd become a pissy queen if he dropped him off at curb of his apartment complex. "I just remembered that I did," he lied. He didn't know why he was lying. He was just trying to end the conversation.

"Oh." Justin giggled and palmed his crotch. "Fuck, just so you know, I'm going to jerk off in your shower."

Brian squealed his tires as he pulled the car into a parking space. He felt like banging on the steering wheel but just barely refrained. "Actually, I didn't have to know." He was definitely letting Justin shower first because even if he showered and jerked off first, thinking of Justin jerking off in his shower was going to cause him to have a boner all night long if he didn't take care of it. He wasn't going to jerk off twice thinking about Justin, once was pathetic enough.

"You drove really fast," Justin commented once they were walking toward the front door of the building.

Brian hated that the moonlight made the glitter stuck to Justin's hair and skin sparkle. He hated that there would be glitter stuck in the drain, taunting him as he showered. "I didn't drive fast, idiot. You're just wasted and have lost all concept of time." He held the door open for Justin and opted to take the stairs, not giving a shit if Justin was stumbling and being loud enough to wake the whole building. Being stuck with him in the loft was going to be hard enough; he didn't need to be in a tiny elevator with him too.

"I want to be an angel and you can be the devil," Justin announced as Brian slid the loft door closed behind them.

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Brian asked. Usually when Justin was this drunk, Brian enjoyed it, but now it was just annoying.

"I'm talking about Halloween at Babylon, duh." Justin sniffed and rolled his eyes dramatically. "I want to be an angel and I want you to dress like a devil. It'll be fun."

Brian grabbed a bottle of Beam and poured himself a glass. He couldn't even respond to that ridiculousness.

"Pour me one too?" Justin requested, batting his eyelashes.

"You don't need it," Brian quipped. "What you need is a shower so that you'll sober up."

"Even when I'm not drunk, I'm still gonna want you to dress up with me."

Brian realized that ignoring the suggestion wasn't going to work. "Justin, there is no way in hell that I'm putting on any kind of a costume."

Justin stuck his lower lip out. "Why not?"

"There are a million reasons."

"Tell me two of them."

Brian gulped his first shot and poured another. "One: I don't dress up. Two: If you want to go to Queer as Fears night as a pair with someone, convince your boyfriend to go with you."

"What? You won't even go?" Justin asked. "But you're the one that came up with the theme!"

"Rarely do I go to 'theme' nights at Babylon."

"Liar," Justin taunted. "We've been to like every one. And you do dress up; you dressed up for leather night."

"Which is as far as I'd ever go."

"Then that's what you can wear, and I'll buy you some of those vampire teeth that you glue in your mouth and we'll just use make up to make you look really pale."

"That's not going to happen."

"Brian, you know Eric won't go with me and all of our friends are going to dress up. Ben and Michael are going to be He-Man and She-Ra…"

Brian had to laugh. "Where did you get that from? They're going as Thor and Captain America."

"Whatever, even Emmett has a date and they're dressing as a pair too."

Brian slammed his empty glass down. "We're not a fucking couple and we're not dressing as a pair of anything, so get the fucking idea out of your head!"

Brian's outburst sobered Justin quite a bit. He slowly backed away from the bar and turned toward the bathroom. He had no idea why Brian was in such a foul mood and wondered if yet again, Brian was going to go back to ignoring him for no good reason.

§ § § § §

The shower worked to clear Justin's head, but now that he was sober his confusion was settling in. He didn't say anything to Brian, who'd been sitting on his bed smoking, when he exited the bathroom and made his way to the sofa.

He was surprised to find that Brian had made up the sofa for him and placed an aspirin and a bottle of water for him on the nightstand. Justin was far from understanding Brian and why he could be such a shit one moment and then turn around and be thoughtful and caring the next.

After taking the aspirin, Justin turned off all the lights and tried to fall asleep. Brian hadn't taken a long a shower and Justin was wide awake when he emerged in his towel. Justin tried really hard not to watch Brian dress, but he failed miserably because he watched the whole time. He was sure that Brian could probably hear his breathing pick up when he'd first dropped the towel, but Brian didn't look over at him, didn't acknowledge him at all.

Once Brian had put on a t-shirt and briefs and shut the amber light off above the bed, Justin closed his eyes again and tried to will himself to stop thinking about what it was he'd said that had pissed Brian off. He really didn't think it was a big deal to ask Brian to dress up with him, friends did that stuff all the time. In fact, if Daphne was around, Justin was sure she'd dress up with him and they'd have a blast together. He knew that Brian rarely acted silly around anyone but him and Gus, but he had been so sure that just one night he could let himself go.

At least an hour passed before Justin finally gave up on trying to sleep, tossing and turning so much that the blanket had wound itself around his ankles twice. He sat up and looked into the bedroom, trying to gauge whether or not Brian was asleep. He listened, accustomed to the way Brian breathed when he was asleep and he didn't hear the soft rattling noise he usually made if he was.

Justin rose from the sofa and tiptoed up the stairs and cautiously crawled into the bed beside Brian. The moment his head hit the pillow he felt his body relaxing and knew that he actually could probably sleep now. Except he was freezing and even though he knew that Brian knew he was now in bed with him, he didn't want to disturb Brian by getting the covers.

Brian could feel the vibrations of Justin's shivers and gave up on feigning sleep. He turned toward Justin, grabbed the end of the duvet and pulled it up to his shoulders.

"We don't have to dress up, Brian," Justin conceded in a soft tone of voice.

Brian felt horrible and he didn't understand why he did. Maybe it was disappointment in Justin's voice, or his glassy dark eyes, or maybe it was Brian's pure stupidity that propelled him into compromise. "Just the leather and the teeth."

Even in the dark, Brian saw Justin's gleaming smile and it followed him into sleep.

Tbc...


	11. November

[ ](http://galeandrandy.livejournal.com/153868.html)

  
**November**

_All things are difficult before they are easy.-Thomas Fuller_

Brian had left the land of denial weeks ago and was currently trying to figure out how to go about leasing property in Justinland. Yes, he was completely aware that he wanted Justin; he wanted to be with him, fuck him and even wake up with him beside him. It wasn't so bad waking up with Justin the few times they'd done that. Justin was all sleepy-warm and Brian pervishly enjoyed feeling Justin's morning wood rub against his hip or thigh, depending on how Justin moved. Brian was sure it'd be even better if Justin woke him with a morning blowjob or by riding his morning woody. He'd really like that and he was sure that after he made love to fucked Justin for the first time, Justin would be a natural at it. Brian was sure that Justin would beg Brian to fuck him all the time _if he could just fuck him once_.

Brian didn't know exactly how to go about actually fucking Justin. Sure, he could probably appeal to Justin's slutty side while he was drunk and Justin just might let them make the mistake, but he'd regret it in the morning. Brian would rather be friends with Justin than have Justin feel guilty after they fucked and run back to Eric, begging his forgiveness and most likely never speaking to Brian again unless it was necessary to at work, that is if he didn't quit. He didn't want Justin to cheat on Eric, didn't want them fucking to be the reason that Justin left Eric to be with him and he definitely didn't want to lose their friendship. Brian was about fifty-one percent sure that Justin would leave Eric to be with him, under the right circumstances but those odds weren't very good.

He wasn't sure how Justin felt about him. It was very junior high school and Brian had even considered asking Michael to grill Justin about him when they'd all been out together on Halloween. That had been in a weak, drunk moment wherein the request never passed his lips, halted only by Justin grabbing his hands and pulling him away from the bar to go dance.

They danced all night long, only stopping for short drink breaks before they were back on the dance floor, laughing and grinding all night long. Brian didn't ever want to leave and not once did he or Justin take advantage of the many offers they had thrown their way. The music, lights, beer and glitter were enough. But Brian didn't know if it was really enough for Justin. He had been acutely aware all night that the only reason Justin was with him was because Eric had previously agreed to chaperon the high school's Halloween dance.

They had to leave earlier than their usual nights spent at Babylon because the next day was a work day. They ended up taking a cab back to Justin's apartment and when Brian fumbled with getting the sofa bed to pull out; Justin told Brian not to worry about it, helped him out of his leathers and covered him with his soft down blanket. Brian had fallen asleep before he saw Justin take off angel wings and his dreams were filled with silly romantic dances with a blond angel.

They were both so tired the next morning that they barely spoke to one another, peacefully going on with their morning routine as if they hadn't spent the whole night before with their hard dicks rubbing against each other. Brian had to be dropped off at Babylon to pick up the Jeep and he didn't see Justin until lunch time. By that point, Brian had a migraine and was in a horrible mood. He was prepared to cancel all of his appointments and go home when Justin strolled into his office with a huge smile on his face.

It was nothing short of amazing how Brian's migraine evaporated as Justin's smooth voice began to relay a joke to him while his fingers massaged Brian's temples. Brian had his head leaning back in his chair and was looking at Justin upside down as he rattled on about a priest a hooker and an elf. It was at that moment that Brian knew he wanted Justin and wouldn't stop wanting him. He wouldn't stop wanting Justin to be the one that made his bad day into a good one. He laughed aloud at his pathetic musings but Justin had thought that Brian was laughing at his joke and Brian didn't tell him otherwise.

So here Brian was weeks later, wanting someone who already had a someone, and he was clueless as to how he should proceed.

"Brian, it's Thanksgiving. You can get over yourself and eat some fucking pie," Justin ordered as he handed Brian a soapy plate for him to rinse.

"You tell him, Sunshine," Debbie encouraged as she left the kitchen with a fresh pot of coffee in one hand and a tray of mugs in the other.

"I had vanilla ice cream, yesterday. I've met my fat quota for the week," Brian insisted.

Justin bumped Brian's hip with his own. "You made me buy that non-fat shit, so you can't use that excuse. Do you really want my mom and Debbie to feel bad when you don't eat their pies?"

"It's not going to make anyone feel bad."

"I know you want it," Justin said. "Why do you insist on denying yourself something you want when just a little wouldn't hurt you in the least?"

Brian shook his head at the irony and placed the last dish in the strainer to air dry. "I'm going out for a smoke," he said quickly, wiping his hands on a towel and taking off out the back door.

§ § § § §

"Roll over."

"I want to see you."

"You will," Brian spoke against Justin's shoulder. His hand lazily drifted up and down Justin's back, teasing the crack of Justin's ass with his thumb on every pass. "First, I want to get rid of one of your 'I nevers'. Then we'll get to the other one."

As Brian's body lifted off him, Justin rolled onto his knees and looked back at Brian. "How do you want me?"

"Curl your face down on the pillows," Brian directed, "spread your legs wide...wider." He tested the arrangement, looking through Justin's legs. "If you can, lift up a little bit more so your head hangs down more."

Justin felt all his blood rushing into his ears, but he was sure that wouldn't be the case in a few minutes. "Like this," he asked, seeing Brian's face between his legs.

"Perfect," Brian praised, his warm hands rubbing Justin's thighs. "I want to see your face as much as possible while I eat your ass."

Brian's blunt words sparked need inside Justin's core and he bucked his hips backward, his ass rubbing against Brian's stubbly face. "Please…" he begged in frustration. He knew that Brian probably intended to position him in such a manner that he wouldn't be able to support himself and stroke his cock at the same time. "Touch me." He wiggled, his cock but only humped cool air.

"I am touching you, Justin." Brian continued his massage on Justin's thighs, bringing his hands all the way down to his calves and then down to his feet.

Justin grunted, desperately horny and needing the unknown. "Please, touch my cock and…" He sighed as Brian's tongue began to paint his skin, first the bottom of his middle toes and gliding up his foot, over his heel and pausing to bite the back of his ankle. "Jesus!"

"Tell me what you want, Justin. Say it," Brian encouraged before giving Justin's other foot and ankle equal treatment.

Justin's toes curled and he wanted to close his eyes but he wanted to watch Brian even more. "Please rim me," he said quickly.

"Where do you want my tongue, Justin?"

"Brian!"

"Where? Tell me. I bet you almost feel me there right now, don't you?"

"Yes," Justin admitted in a moan. "I do."

"Then tell me where you want my tongue."

"I want your tongue in my ass!" Justin shouted. "Please."

"Why?" Brian smiled at him.

"Brian, you know why!"

"Tell me."

"I want you to rim me; I want to know what it feels like to have your tongue inside my ass. I want you to tongue my hole, Brian."

Brian gave Justin a devilish smirk and abandoned licking his right thigh. His hands spread Justin's ass cheeks and he blew on his hole.

"Please," Justin whimpered. There was no fear, nothing holding him back from wanting Brian to touch him there, suck on his skin there, and stick his tongue inside of him and then his cock. "Please, eat my ass, Brian."

"You dirty little slut," Brian spoke so close to Justin's hole, but his lips didn't touch him. "You're my slut, aren't you Justin?"

"Yes!" The anticipation kept Justin still; he was breathing slowly, could feel his hole twitching and…

"Don't it always seem to go  
That you don't know what you've got  
Till it's gone  
They paved paradise  
And put up a parking lot"

Justin was startled awake by the loud song signaling that Eric was calling him much too early on a Saturday morning. He moaned loudly as he looked around for the phone, sadly it wasn't the kind of moaning he'd been doing in his dream. And what kind of fucked up dream was that, anyway?

Being unexpectedly abducted from the land of Briantonguemyass and plunked into the land of reality after a night of drinking vodka, mildly putting it, Justin was disoriented. He scrambled out of his bed as the next verse of the song began to play and he cursed Joni Mitchell's existence as well as his own for not setting his phone to vibrate before he passed out. Justin spotted his phone sticking out of his pants which were draped over the chest on the other side of the room and stumbled out of his bed. His hard-on slapped against his stomach as he raced to stop the music from playing any longer.

He didn't realize it until he made a grab for the phone, but his hand was covered in come. He promptly wiped his hand down his bare chest and flipped open the phone. "Yeah?"

"Well good morning to you, too."

Justin glanced at his clock and then assessed himself while trying to focus on the conversation. "Why are you calling me at eight o'clock in the morning?"

"I wanted to call you before you made plans with Brian."

Justin looked around his room as if Brian would magically appear. He then remembered, "Brian isn't here. He and Michael had a sleep over with Gus and Jenny last night."

"You didn't go?" Eric asked.

"Why would I?" Justin aimlessly walked around bedroom. "Brian and Michael are their fathers."

"You do everything else with Brian, including spending time with Gus while he is."

"Okay, so what did you want?" Justin asked.

"I wanted to make plans for us today before you made plans with Brian."

Justin eyes landed on a tube of Yellow Ochre then he saw a tube of Burnt Umber and he thought about if he had enough Titanium White and a dozen other colors he knew he would need to paint the image his fucked up psyche had tortured him into conjuring. He had to create it, even if he hated himself for it, even if the final product would end up being burnt in the alley behind his building. He had to transfer the need he felt into the canvas, or he might not ever be rid of it.

Justin sprang into action, throwing open the cabinets and surveying his tools inside. "Eric, I…I… I can't do anything today." He grabbed the crate his smaller unused canvases were in and dumped them onto the floor.

"What was that? Are you all right?" Eric asked worried.

"I'm fine. It was just canvases. Nothing to worry about." Justin started to throw paint, paintbrushes, thinner, solvent, wax paper, and mini pallets into the crate.

"So you're painting," Eric said in an uncertain voice. "That's good."

"Can I call you later… no… not later. Tomorrow. Will tomorrow be okay?"

"Uh…uhm… I guess. Remember to stop and take a break every now and then."

"I will. Bye." Justin threw his phone. It'd go dead in a few hours and with the music he planned on blasting, he doubted he'd hear it ring if it didn't. He had tunnel vision as he gathered the most important item, the canvas. It was a medium sized canvas that he'd started to sketch something on a long time before, an image that he couldn't recall. It would easily be covered by the oil paint and by the image he just couldn't forget.

§ § § § §

Justin had painted in his living room, bedroom and dining room and moved back and forth again and again. He went where the light captured that moment's feelings or that spot on the canvas' emotions. Each drop of paint that coated his skin tugged on the strings wound around his heart until they were shaken off and all Justin could do was accept the tumbling emotions and stroke them onto the canvas.

He was in the living room, his back to the windows so the painting would absorb as much Sunday morning light as it could. When the sun had started to rise that morning, Justin finished the painting by applying one small dab of paint on top of larger ones in the middle of a perfectly toned chest. He'd paced the hallway, made circles around the dining table and smoked a half a pack of cigarettes while waiting for the need to stare at his creation to dissipate.

It didn't. It refused to and around eleven o'clock Justin stood a few steps back and he finally accepted what he'd created. He waited for that other need to go away, the one that made him paint it in the first place. He wished for distraction much in the same way he used to wish for it years ago after his father had died.

Back then, he'd wanted one day that he wouldn't have to remember the man. He didn't want apologies from people he didn't know. He didn't want Daphne to get a boyfriend and move into the dorms while he still lived in the burbs with his mom and little sister. He hated when his grandfather or some other male who was close to his dad would say 'you're the man of the house now'. He wanted to ask them if they'd still think that if they knew that the only reason he wanted a man in the house was so he could take him to his bedroom and fuck him or suck him. Justin didn't like the praise he got from so many people about how well he was adjusting to the aftermath of his father's death. He wanted to tell them that besides him having to spend all the time he wasn't at school fixing his dad's fuck ups at the store so they could sell it, things were better now that he was gone. He thought about how much better they were all the time.

A couple weeks after school started at CMU Daphne invited him to her roommate's boyfriend's frat party. He hadn't wanted to go, but his mother found out about it and encouraged him to attend. The party was so hetero-boring that it did nothing to distract him from what bothered him.

But then, out of nowhere was Eric Rockford, looking just as bored and as in need of a distraction as he was. Justin had fucked a couple guys before, one in the bathroom of the art gallery his mom always took him to, another in CMU's cafeteria bathroom and another in a theatre geek's dorm room. Those fucks had been fast, no time to linger and find out anything more. Justin had liked that.

Until Eric. Fucking Eric was so different and not because he was a virgin. There was a connection of raw vulnerability they shared, feelings Justin painted onto Eric's skin while he slowly fucked him. As Eric held onto Justin with his arms and legs, begged him to stay inside of him for a few more minutes once they'd came, Justin had felt like he didn't need to search for distraction any more.

Justin was a dirty, raunchy mess when Eric banged on his door a little after eleven. Actually, the music in the living room was up so loud Justin couldn't be sure when the knocking had started; he'd only heard it because the CD had changed songs. He quickly opened the door to him and invited him in.

Eric shut the door behind him, gave Justin an innocent smile and grabbed his crotch. "I figured you could use some distraction!" he yelled over the music.

Eric would provide what Justin could use, but only a different man could provide what Justin needed to hold onto. Sometimes being comfortably distracted trumped taking a risk and finding inspiration. At least that's what Justin told himself as he led Eric down the hall, the loud music fading until it was just background noise once they reached his bedroom.

§ § § § §

Brian could hear the music from out in the hallway of Justin's apartment building. He'd been calling him for a day and half and had only got his voice mail. It wasn't his place to be pissed, and Justin definitely didn't answer to him, but it would've been nice to know that the reason Justin wasn't answering his phone was because he was lost in the world of creativity. Once inside Justin's apartment, the loud techno beat rattled Brian's bones. He knew he couldn't just shut it off, which would be worse than just interrupting Justin while he painted. From the looks of the spotless kitchen, Brian was glad he'd gone to check on Justin because it was obvious he hadn't had anything to eat.

He walked down the hall and turned toward the living room, expecting to see Justin there since that's where the music was coming from. Justin wasn't there, but Brian saw a canvas sitting on the easel which was positioned in the middle of the room. He couldn't fight the temptation he felt, needing to see what it was Justin had painted.

When he finally navigated his way around the supplies spread about the floor and came face to face with the painting his heart coiled in on itself so tightly that Brian was sure he was having a heart attack. But as quickly as that feeling came upon him, just as quickly his heart expanded and beat so fast and hard he wondered if it was going to burst out of his chest. Seconds later numbness followed which allowed Brian to breathe and his heart slowed down to a normal pace.

Brian wasn't sure if what had just happened to him was normal, and once he got feeling back, a heady rush of tingly euphoria, much like what occurred within him directly after an orgasm, took over. It was ridiculous and foreign for Brian to experience such a cluttered mess of emotions simply because of a painting. It wasn't just any painting though and he knew that. Justin had painted him in a pose that he'd never sat for; it had come from Justin's imagination.

The painting banished all of Brian's doubts and it was time for Justin to confirm it. He carefully picked the painting up and went in search of Justin, intending to show him the truth so that Justin could not deny it. But as he reached Justin's half-open door his body went through another myriad of emotions.

Justin was fucking Eric.

"God, Justin!" Eric gasped as he wrapped his legs tighter around Justin's hips. "You feel amazing inside of me. It's been such a long time since I've felt like you've loved me while you fucked me. I love you, Justin. I love you."

Brian could hardly hold onto the painting as he practically ran down the hall and back into the living room. He quickly placed the painting on the easel and ran back into the kitchen, at first intending on leaving, but then stopped himself and began to pace as he thought through what it was he needed to do. If he left, he could pretend like he'd never seen the painting, pretend like he never heard the words that Eric had spoken. But Brian wasn't a fucking coward and he wasn't going to run away.

He opened the front door…

§ § § § §

Half-way into their fuck, the feeling that he was engaging in infidelity crept under Justin's skin and his inspiration fizzled. Eric was the person he was supposed to have under him; it was supposed to be right. He wasn't supposed to feel guilt and betrayal while he was inside Eric. Eric knew how to please him, he knew how to move with him, squeeze his ass around his cock just the right way, at the right time. Fucking and getting one another off was second nature with them. Except this time it didn't feel like that for Justin. He was clumsy, there was no rhythm, and no matter how hard he tried to grab it, his dick refused to remain erect, slipping out of Eric too many times to count.

Eric didn't seem to notice his fumbling or care if he had. He was content having Justin fuck him no matter how it happened. Justin knew that he was betraying Eric and Brian both when he did it. But he had to, to keep his erection, to keep Eric from being hurt any worse than he would be. Justin closed his eyes and imagined that it was Brian's body he was thrusting into, it was Brian's moans he heard in his ears and it was Brian's voice calling his name, it was the unbearable tightness of Brian's ass which made him lose control. He came hard, and he opened his eyes as he did and his reality was in front of him, leaving him no time to enjoy his orgasm.

"Justin?"

Justin opened his eyes and he heard Brian calling his name at the same time as Eric said his name softly, looking up at him with worried eyes. It hadn't been his imagination; Brian had actually been calling his name.

The music stopped and he heard Brian yell his name again. "Stay out there!" Justin yelled, pulling out of Eric as gently as he could. "Eric's here," he informed, knowing that otherwise Brian would probably just come in his room anyway.

"All right," Brian yelled back.

Eric pulled the covers around him; he'd never seen Justin come without warning so quickly, especially while fucking him and without making sure that he came first. He knew that Brian's calling Justin's name triggered his boyfriend's orgasm and by the guilt clouding Justin's face, he knew that Justin knew it. "Make him leave," he demanded quietly.

Justin was so angry with himself and he knew that Eric was pissed, had every right to be pissed at him but that made his own anger build. "Eric… just please stay here. I'll be right back." He grabbed a pair of boxers, slipped them on marched down the hallway. He found Brian in the kitchen, raiding his fridge and taking the last beer.

"Hey," Brian said casually before taking a sip of his beer. He wished that Justin had something much stronger.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" he hissed angrily.

Brian leaned against the counter top and tried to address Justin in a calm manner, he really hadn't planned on dealing with a pissy Justin. "You weren't answering your phone and I wanted to check on you." It wasn't a total lie because that had been his original intention on going over to Justin's apartment.

"Yeah well you can't just fucking come in my house whenever you want to!" Justin placed his hands inches away from Brian's hips on the counter, trapping him against it.

Brian wasn't sure why Justin was behaving like an asshole, but he wasn't going to take being screamed at and shoved around. He grabbed the key from his pocket and held it in front of Justin's face. "How the fuck was I supposed to know you've suddenly changed your rules after giving me this?"

Justin stepped even closer to Brian, leaving little space between their bodies. His brain was running on very little sleep and he had no idea why, but all the anger and confusion he was feeling was pouring out into anger for Brian. It was technically Brian's fault; he'd made Justin fall in love with him when he was supposed to love another man. "Maybe you should give me the key back so that you don't interrupt me fucking my boyfriend ever again."

Brian and Justin were silent; breathing heated breaths against one another's faces as the front of their bodies were pressed tightly against each other's.

Eric knew that if he didn't alert them to his presence that he'd have to watch them kiss with as much passion as he'd just watched them fight with. "I'm going to get dressed and I'm leaving." It was all Eric could think of to say before he turned and started back down the hallway.

Justin jumped away from Brian and ran after Eric. "Eric… you don't have to leave."

"Yes. I do. I should've left you a long time ago." Eric had known for months that he and Justin were on a different page, it was only now that he realized they weren't even in the same fucking book.

Justin heard the front door slam and he knew that Brian had left, probably never to return after the way he'd behaved toward him. He wanted to go after him, but…

"Go on, go after him!" Eric yelled, reading Justin's expression. "I can get dressed on my own."

"I don't want to go after him," Justin lied, following Eric into his bedroom.

Eric turned around and laughed. "Do you think I'm an idiot? Do you think that I don't have eyes or something?"

"Of course not. Eric, I…"

"Your dick was soft when you went in there to head him off so that he wouldn't see us together. You know he's in love with you and you're in love with him. You didn't want him to be hurt if he saw us fucking."

"That's not true." Justin hadn't consciously done that but now as Eric said it, it actually did seem true.

Eric shook out his shirt, hitting Justin in the chest as he tried to put his arms around him. "Do you love Brian?"

"No!" Justin said quickly, much too quickly.

Eric shook his head sadly and backed further away from Justin as he continued to dress. "Do you have anything of yours at my place you need to get?" He actually knew the answer but he needed Justin to know it too.

Justin couldn't think of one item he'd ever kept at Eric's. Before Eric moved into the Green Complex last year, Justin had kept a lot of things at Eric's house. When Eric was moving he'd put all of Justin's things in a duffle bag and they piled whatever they could in Justin's SUV. But Justin never took the bag of his things into Eric's new apartment; it stayed in his trunk for weeks until Justin finally brought it home. He didn't feel comfortable at Eric's new place, no matter how comfortable he was with Eric, so he rarely stayed the night and had no need to have any of his belongings in his apartment.

Eric laughed bitterly. "You can't think of one fucking thing you have there, can you?"

"No," Justin answered.

"Then there's no reason we need to see one another again. Is there?" Eric brushed past Justin and made his way to the front door.

Justin ran after Eric, meeting him in the kitchen. "Of course there is a reason for us to see each other, Eric. This is just... I've been feeling strange; I'm exhausted and I can't think straight."

"Justin. Answer me this," Eric grit out between his clenched teeth.

"What, Eric?"

"Why can I look around your home and point out at least a dozen things here that are Brian's? He even has a toothbrush here; you told me that so I'd know not to use it in case I thought you bought it for me."

"You have a toothbrush here too. Just like I have one at your place."

"Those are the only fucking things we have at one another's places!" Eric yelled, walking over to the kitchen cabinets. He opened the top cabinet and pulled out a bag of coffee. "You fucking hate hazelnut. You HATE it, I hate it and I saw you make it for him when you knew he was coming over to work with you last week." Eric walked over to the fridge, opened it and pointed inside. "Guava juice, pears, avocadoes... you don't snack on fruit. Brian brought that shit here for him. He shops and brings half his groceries here and half to his house, you told me so yourself. That's fucked up!"

"That doesn't mean anything, Eric. So what? He has to have snacks here when we're working. He's really particular about what he eats."

"I couldn't give a shit about what he eats but obviously you do! It's just fine for Brian to eat healthy, to keep healthy food in your home. I make veggie lasagna and you make fun of me for being a 'health freak'. You never seem to remember that I hate white wine and have to ask me what I prefer, red or white, every time we go out to eat or you bring some over." Eric stalked into to the living room and picked up a Gucci belt from the back of the couch. "This has been here for weeks. I know it isn't yours. Neither is the designer robe on the back of your bathroom door, the leather jacket in the hall closet or the designer jeans, sweaters, tank, underwear and socks in the dresser in your bedroom.

Justin mentally went through all the other things of Brian's he had at his apartment that Eric hadn't noticed or chose not to list. Then he began thinking of everything of his own that was at Brian's.

No matter how far apart they'd drifted, Eric could still easily read Justin's expression. "I know there's more here and I know you probably have tons of your stuff at his place."

Justin thought of a dozen little things, like emergency allergy meds, a set of paints, a few sketchbooks, a couple sweaters, shorts for when he got hot, a few extra pairs of underwear and some socks... "That doesn't mean anything." Justin placed his hand on Eric's shoulder but it was roughly shaken off.

"Why are you doing this? You know you love him and you can't love me! If eight years together can't make you love me, then nothing will. You know that whatever it is I wanted for us when we first met isn't going to happen. I've known that for a long time. I actually thought about breaking up with you when you told me that you didn't want to move in with me."

"Then why didn't you? If you were so wise and knew we weren't going to fit into your fairy tale, why didn't you just break up with me?"

"You feel guilty because you know that for the last, what at least, six months, you've been in love with Brian. You think that you were doing me a favor by staying with me?"

"That's not why I stayed," Justin defended. "I wanted you."

"No, you didn't want me. You wanted easy. It was never hard to be with you. But you know what they say, 'nothing worth fighting for is ever easy'. There was nothing worth fighting for during our eight years together and there isn't anything worth fighting for now."

"You're the one that's taking the easy way out," Justin said. "You're ending us with a fucking cliché."

"Oh, no. The cliché was you falling in love with your boss and staying with me because I was convenient." Eric kissed Justin's forehead and whispered. "But don't worry too much, Justin; after awhile you became convenient for me too."

Justin said nothing else to stop Eric from leaving. There was nothing he could think of to say that would make anything better between them. He felt like crying, but didn't have the energy.

Justin locked the front door, putting the chain lock on too just in case Brian did come back. He needed to talk to Daphne. On his way to his bedroom Justin's eye caught the easel in the living room and he noticed that the canvas wasn't sitting the way it had been when he'd finished it. Upon inspection he was surprised to see that the painting had not only been moved, but it was placed upside down.

At first, Justin thought that maybe Eric had seen it before he'd interrupted him and Brian's fight in the kitchen, but he was sure that Eric would've used the painting as evidence that he was in love with Brian. It was obvious that Brian had been the one to move it; he knew that he'd definitely been in the living room when he turned the music down. Justin wondered why Brian would turn it upside down so carelessly. None of it made sense, except that Brian hadn't run screaming when he so obviously saw how he felt about him. However, maybe he hadn't wanted to embarrass him and wanted to pretend like he'd never seen it at all.

Justin didn't have any of the answers to his questions. With frustration and confusion egging him on, he quickly searched his bedroom for where he'd thrown his cell phone. He found it dead, lying underneath his paint stained shirt, plugged it into the charger beside his bed and called Daphne the moment the display lit up.

"I am not in love with my boss!"

"What? Who?"

"Brian Kinney! My boss! I'm not in love with him!"

"Uhh... okay. Obviously I know who your boss is, I was just a little confused by your outburst."

"Sorry, I'm freaking out here, Daph."

"Calm down, it'll be okay. Is Eric jealous of Brian or something?"

"He's not jealous, we broke up."

"When? Why didn't you tell me?"

"We broke up like two seconds ago. I'm telling you now."

"So, you broke up because he thinks you're in love with Brian?"

"We broke up because he came in and I think he caught us fucking and that combined with me yelling at him and that is probably why he left."

"You fucked your boss!"

"No!"

"Then who was fucking who?"

"I was fucking Eric and I think Brian saw it and he started yelling my name and I had this amazing orgasm while I was fucking Eric, but I was imagining that I was fucking Brian and then I came out of the bedroom and we started fighting."

"You and Eric?"

"Me and Brian."

"Brian?"

"Yes! Are you listening?"

"I'm fucking listening, but you're insane."

"I know. I've gone completely off the deep end, Daphne. I don't know what the fuck I was doing! I'm the world's biggest asshole!"

"Justin, stop with the pity part and explain it to me slowly. You are saying that Brian is mad because he saw you fucking Eric?"

"Yes."

"Why is Brian mad?"

"I don't know."

"Because you yelled at him?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because he used his key to come in and I stupidly took all my anger out on him."

"And why did you and Eric break up?"

"Because he saw Brian and I fighting."

"I doubt that's the reason."

"Fuck! Why did I call you? I'm even more confused now."

"You called me so that you could tell me you're not in love with your boss even though you are."

"I'm not!"

"Uh huh. So what happened that made you and Eric break up? You're confusing me too, Justin."

"I told you, Brian and I were fighting."

"Why would he break up with you if you were fighting with Brian?"

"Probably because he had every right not to want us to be friends."

"How good of friends have you two become?"

"We're good friends," Justin said, hesitating, "the best."

"And what do you two do together?" Daphne had known this day would come, but obviously Justin needed it all put out in front of him to actually get it.

"You know what we do together, Daphne."

"So, I want you to tell me again."

"We go clubbing."

"Define clubbing."

"You know what goes on in a club, Daphne!"

"So you two fuck?"

"No! You know I would tell you if we had. I told you we hadn't!"

"Right, but you pick up tricks together and dance together. And you two stay the night at one another's places and sometimes you even sleep in the same bed. Am I right?"

"Yes, but what I feel for Brian doesn't matter. I've never acted on it. We're just friends."

"Who work, fuck and technically sleep together."

"Shut up."

"Who get pissed because they felt bad that they were caught fucking their convenient 'semi-boyfriend'.

"That's exactly what Eric said."

"And that's probably what happened."

"No, Daphne. I can't be that guy. I'm not that horrible of a person."

Daphne said softly, "You are that guy. But you can't choose who you fall in love with. You aren't a horrible person; you just kept yourself in a horrible situation. You can deny it until you're blue in the face. But the truth is, you love Brian. You practically told me you did a few minutes ago and I'm sure you've known it for a long time.

"I have?"

"I'm sure of it. You called me because you knew that I would tell you that you need to get over whatever it is that's holding you back. You need to admit that you love him."

"I don't."

"You do."

"I couldn't!"

"You do."

"But… but Brian's like totally annoying! He keeps his loft too cold, he drives too fast in the rain, his closet is far too organized, he works too hard, doesn't keep any appointment unless it's with a client, he has an ego that knows no bounds and he's...."

Daphne interrupted him with a bout of laughter. "Would you shut up?"

"Daphne! I'm in crisis mode here."

"This is why you need me to translate what you just said." Daphne cleared her throat and talked in a deep voice to imitate Justin, "Brian is totally infuriating because I'm in love with him. I get cold when I'm at his designer loft but I stay there anyway because I'd rather be uncomfortable than be anywhere else. I worry about him when he drives too fast in the rain and especially when doesn't keep his doctor's appointments."

"Are you done, Daphne?"

"Nope."

"Fuck."

"So, you also love his kid since you spend almost as much time with him as Brian does. You totally worry about him working too hard and his ego rivals your own which I'm sure you absolutely love! You like dancing, hanging out with him, working with him and fucking beside him because it's as close as you can get without actually fucking him because that would mean you actually have to take your friendship..."

"If you say to a different level I'm kicking your ass."

"Well you'll have to come to Philly to do it."

"Bitch."

"It's true."

"That you're a bitch."

"You're on thin ice, Justin!"

"Sorry."

"You're afraid of A) him rejecting you because you're already as close as you can be without actually being partners, B) because you'd rather live your life alone than risk building a meaningful relationship with anyone. Which is why you and Eric never moved in together, why you never said 'I love you' and why you're hating me so much right now for being more ballsy and truthful than you ever could be in the past."

"I hate you."

"You love Brian Kinney. You soooo love him!"

"Fuck. You."

"So if you were worried about him catching you fucking Eric then obviously you must think he has some feelings for you."

"We're not breeders, Daph. The only feelings Brian has for me..."

"Shut up and just go for it."

"Yeah, right. That'll be a good way to get me fired. Coming on to the boss."

"So, he just left when you and Eric started fighting or something?"

"Yes, Eric said he was leaving and I went after him and Brian left. When we were fighting I basically acted like a complete psycho because I was pissed at myself."

"There's some honesty," Daphne complimented. "Maybe Brian was jealous and didn't want to hear you begging Eric to stay."

"How do you know I…"

"Because you can't let go."

"Yeah."

"I really think that Brian left more because he was jealous and less because of your little fight."

"It wasn't exactly a little fight. If Eric hadn't interrupted us it probably would've come to blows."

"I doubt that, unless you mean blowjobs."

"That's probably what Eric thought."

"So Brian is jealous."

"That's impossible. Brian's fucking gorgeous and he'd never…"

"Are you seriously about to dumb your pretty down? If so, then you MUST be in love! Finally! A man whom Justin Taylor thinks is better than he is!"

"I don't think he's better. More like equal."

"That says it all, Justin."

"Fuck."

"You want to know what you have to do?"

"No and I don't have a fucking clue."

"Well I'm going to tell you."

"Oh, god."

"You go to his house and tell him you quit."

"I'm not going to quit just because I'm in love with him and he doesn't love me!"

Daphne laughed triumphantly.

"What?"

"You just said you were in love with him."

"Fuck you! So what?"

"So he might love you. I think you've confused yourself into thinking that he doesn't love you. But I also know you've been considering it. I bet you sat around considering it before you even called me."

Justin so wasn't going to tell her she was right. "Brian doesn't believe in love."

"He has a kid, I'm sure he loves him. I doubt you'd love him if he didn't love his kid."

"Why must you be so smart?"

"I was born that way. And I'm right. Brian believes in love."

"So what."

"So he may believe that he loves you, too."

"Yeah, right. He'd never tell me even if he did."

"You don't need to hear it. You just need to feel it."

"This is so high school romance crap."

"You're going to find out if he loves you."

"How?"

"Tell him you quit."

"What? Why?"

"I'm sure you'll be able to feel whatever it is he does feel for you when you do."

"Like fucking hatred at leaving his company on short notice when we're in the process of a company expansion?"

"Like agony for you leaving him."

"Doubt it."

"What's it gonna hurt if you try?"

"Duh, like I'd lose my job!"

"No, you won't."

"How do you know? You can't know that."

"If he doesn't love you, could you actually imagine working with him every day now that you've admitted to yourself that you love him? It's all you'll think about."

"Fuck."

"It's true." "

I hate it when you're right."

"You love it. That's why you called."

"Okay."

"Okay. Call me in a few days."

"Why in a few days?"

"If he does love you, knowing you sluts, you'll be having a fuck fest and won't have the time to call me."

Tbc...


	12. December

[ ](http://galeandrandy.livejournal.com/153868.html)

**December**

_It is your work in life that is the ultimate seduction.-Pablo Picasso_

Justin grabbed his vibrating cell phone from his pocket and cautiously answered it. "Hey, Daph."

"Why have you waited over a week to call me?"

"It's been like eight days," Justin defended.

"That's over a week. Now I'm sure he's listening so you don't have to tell me everything, but at least tell me how the sex was."

"I'm driving to work," Justin cautioned.

"Yeah, I figured this would be an appropriate time to call you since you're probably not in the middle of fucking. Tell Brian I said hi."

"He isn't with me." Because I'm a spineless idiot.

"Well then you can give me all the details now."

"There aren't any details to give."

"Whoa! Wait a minute. You're driving to work but there aren't any details so that means you didn't do it. You didn't tell Brian that you quit, you didn't tell him that you're in love with him?"

"I couldn't, Daphne."

"When I didn't hear from you for a few days I figured that everything had gone as planned. I've been sitting here for days thinking that you and Brian are just too busy fucking and that's why you hadn't called."

"I'm sorry."

"You should be," Daphne stated. "So how are things at work? Have you talked to him at all?"

"He hasn't been there. He was in Chicago then Boston all last week. But he'll be back today."

"Are you going to quit?"

"I don't know. I've been thinking about it all fucking week and I haven't made a decision. I probably should've gone over to the loft last Sunday and done what you told me to do, but it's been too long since then. I doubt me quitting would have the same impact."

"Well you need to decide what will have an impact on him and do it."

"Okay," Justin agreed. "I'll figure out something. I gotta go; I'm pulling into the garage now."

"This time, if I don't hear from you it better be because you're with Brian. Otherwise, you have to call me right away."

"I will, I promise. You know, the last time we talked I was freaking out and didn't ask you about how Thanksgiving with Steven and your families went."

Daphne sighed dramatically, "It was okay."

Justin laughed. "So I take it you're in crisis mode too?"

"No, I'm not in crisis mode. Mom and Dad didn't even bat an eye when they met Steven; he's a doctor so that trumped the whole race issue. It was only 'okay' because I burned the outside of the turkey and the inside was still frozen. All we had to eat was the side dishes."

Justin refrained from laughing. "Well knowing how well you cook side dishes, I'm sure the dinner was enjoyable even without the turkey."

"That's what Steven's parents said. But my mother is insisting that I come to Pittsburgh for Christmas so that she can show me exactly how to cook a turkey. Apparently I miscalculated the thawing time because I was calculating grams and not pounds or something."

Justin excitedly asked, "So you're coming to Pittsburgh for Christmas?"

"Both Steven and I are coming. His parents are going to his sister's for Christmas and I wasn't going to leave him alone."

"Of course not," Justin said. "I can't wait to meet him."

"He can't wait to meet you and Brian too. That is, if there is a you and Brian at that point."

"You've told him about us?" Justin groaned.

"Yes, he knows the whole story. He's extremely romantic and a sucker for love stories."

"Well I don't know if Brian and I will have a happy ending by Christmas, so Steven will have to be disappointed by only meeting me."

"We'll only be there for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day because we have work two days after Christmas. But I promised him that you'd take us dancing."

"So Steven is bisexual?"

"No," Daphne answered, laughing. "He definitely isn't. He just loves dancing and I told him how much fun I had at Babylon, so you've got to take us there on Christmas Eve. I checked the website and it said there's going to be a big drag show."

"I guess even if Brian and I aren't speaking at that point I can still take you there," he resigned.

"I've got to go and get ready for work. Work on the whole speaking to Brian thing," Daphne pushed.

"I'll try," Justin agreed.

"Good luck, Justin."

"Thanks, Daph. Bye."

"Bye."

§ § § § §

Brian had avoided Justin all morning. Sure, the first thing he'd wanted to do the moment the elevator doors opened on the tenth floor was to stop by Justin's office and at least get a small glimpse at him. He hadn't spoken to him in a week, hadn't seen his face in a week and he was going through withdrawal, as silly as that sounded it was true.

He'd had the meetings in Chicago and Boston scheduled long before Justin decided to turn into a lunatic. As much as he'd wanted to see Justin, the time away from him allowed Brian to clear his head. He had decided that under no circumstances would he speak to Justin Taylor unless it was absolutely necessary and concerned Exhibition. That was the only way that Brian would be able to survive working with him, if he could actually survive it.

He'd only been in the same building with Justin under four hours and he had spent the first hour debating whether or not Justin would seek him out. When that didn't happen he spent the next two hours going back and forth between slogan ideas for a fitness candy bar and wondering what Justin was doing in his office. That was just fucking pathetic. Moving toward the fourth hour Brian broke down and called Michael. Michael was busy doing inventory and couldn't talk long so they made plans to meet at the diner for dinner. After that he played with his stress ball, alternating hands every twenty squeezes, and during his ninetieth his office phone rang.

Brian couldn't decipher where in the office the call was coming from, directly connected outside lines flashed slowly as the phone rang and this flash was like a miniature strobe light. So it was entirely possible that it was Justin calling him. It could've been Karen, Cynthia, Ted or one of the other employees, but there was still a possibility that it was Justin. So Brian had to prepare himself to answer the phone.

He sat up straight, cleared his throat, gave a test 'hello' to be sure his voice was calm and normal sounding and then he picked up the phone. "Kinney."

"Brian, I wanted to remind you that we have the employee meeting after the lunch hours at two."

Brian should've been relieved, relaxed even, but he was actually pissed. He managed a polite, "Thank you, Karen," and hung up his phone. What the fuck did he have to be thankful for? In a couple of hours he'd be in the same room with Justin and now that he knew that was coming, it made everything for him worse.

Brian felt pukey and shaky and thought that perhaps there was a god and he would have a legitimate excuse and would really have to go home sick. That's right. If he was sick, no one would fault him for skipping out on the meeting. The meeting had nothing to do with the expansion, they were having that one next week. Today's meeting was just a run of the mill, touch bases with the employees kind of meeting. Cynthia wouldn't mind if he went home sick. Airplanes were one of the easiest places to pick up a flu bug.

The question was, would it be more awkward to have his first meeting with Justin in front of people where it would be perfectly acceptable to have his attention elsewhere, or would meeting Justin alone because of some unavoidable work issue be the better bet? Brian would have to think carefully about that before he went home sick.

It occurred to Brian how ignorant he was being, allowing a piece of blond boy ass to actually get under his skin. It was practically unbelievable. He wouldn't have believed it himself, except the butterflies in his stomach and sweat on his skin (yes he knew he wasn't sick) gave him ample proof.

§ § § § §

"Ooooh, kinky."

Justin placed his hand over the tricks mouth as the elevator doors opened. "Be quiet," he whispered. The tall, dark haired man nodded and Justin took him by the wrist and led him through the empty hallways and into his office.

Justin turned on the lights, left the door cracked open and pulled the trick into a kiss. The trick had tried to unbutton his shirt but Justin stopped him. "No time for that," he whispered, pushing the trick toward the couch.

His phone vibrated in his pants pocket, it was the second consecutive call to his cell, but instead of answering it he grabbed the lube and condom wedged in beside it. He'd picked a trick that appeared easy-going and the least likely to make a scene. The trick allowed Justin to forcefully position him over the arm of the sofa and let out a small laugh, indicating that Justin had chosen right.

The sound of his office phone ringing drowned out the tear of the condom wrapper.

"You're not gonna get that?" the trick asked, craning his head to look back at Justin as his jeans were pulled down.

Justin pulled his dick out of his zipper and lied, "They'll leave a message." He knew they wouldn't make use of his voicemails and Karen was at the meeting too so they couldn't leave a message with her. Exhibition was closed for the hour and Justin knew that it was an office to office call. The phone on his desk continued to ring as Justin smeared lube onto his latex-covered cock, spread apart the olive-toned ass cheeks before him, and placed his slippery cock right outside the man's hole.

"Yeah, fuck me," the trick begged while circling his hips.

The office phone stopped ringing and Justin waited, appearing to tease the man's entrance with his cock tip. His cell phone vibrated again and Justin wondered if the caller would ever get the fucking point and stop calling. He wasn't sure what he would do if… The call ended and he waited to hear his office phone ring, but there wasn't a call. His office was completely silent, even the trick was quiet; the only thing Justin could hear was his anxious breathing. He closed his eyes and waited… and waited… and… oh my fucking God he was sure he was going to die if he had to…

"So this is what you're doing instead of coming to the staff meeting?"

"Oh fuck!" the trick gasped, wiggling out from under Justin.

Justin stepped away from the trick and straightened his shoulders. "Yeah. I needed a break."

"Some break," Brian said coolly, though his outward appearance to Justin was casual.

"Uhh....so..." the trick stammered pulling his jeans up. "I guess this isn't going to happen?"

Justin shook his head at the trick that seconds later bolted toward his open door.

This was the part of the plan Justin wasn't exactly prepared for because he hadn't predicted this scenario at all. He imagined that any one of the employees could've been the one to catch him, but he figured that even if that were the case, Brian would still rake him over the coals and fire him. Justin was panicking, but he didn't look away from his boss' intense gaze as he closed and locked the door.

Justin's office phone rang and when he made to walk over and answer it Brian held his hand up and Justin stopped all movement.

Brian walked around Justin's desk, picked up the phone and calmly said, "Justin and I will be unavailable. Go on with the meeting without us." After placing the receiver back in the cradle he turned his attention back to Justin. "Put your dick away," he spoke, showing his agitation.

Justin looked down at his cock, still wrapped in latex, shining from lube. He quickly skimmed off the condom and walked toward his desk to deposit it in the trashcan. He held Brian's eyes once more as he tucked himself back into his underwear and zipped up his pants.

There was no way in hell that Brian could have the conversation he needed to when Justin's dick was deliciously on display for him. Brian noticed that once Justin had zipped up, his cheeks blushed, his eyes glimmered and he worried his bottom lip in between his teeth, waiting on him to make the next move. Brian thought this Justin was going to be just as hard to deal with as the Justin with his cock out waiting to be sucked. He walked around the desk toward Justin and almost smiled when Justin backed away from him.

"It... it never was going to happen," Brian spoke. He tilted his head and gave Justin a look that basically translated to words as, 'you're a fucking idiot'.

Justin felt like Brian had kicked him in the gut. Eager to put some separation between the two of them he slid into his chair as Brian confidently sat in one of the chairs in front of his desk.

They were never going to happen. Justin kept hearing that over and over in his head as he stared at Brian, having no idea what it was he was supposed to say to that knife in the heart statement.

"You were never going to fuck him!" Brian shouted, making Justin jump and blink at him with an expression of surprise. He whispered his next words, "Clever devil, don't think you can deceive the master."

Justin swallowed thickly and tried to deny it, "No. You don't know what I was going to..."

Brian slammed his hands down on the desk and leaned over it. "Why do you want to lie to me right now? Why?"

"I...." Justin had never felt so fucking stupid. "I... you're..."

"Grow some fucking balls," Brian taunted. "Tell me if you think you're man enough to."

"You'll never say it," Justin hissed, angry that Brian would make it into a joke.

"Say what?"

Calmer, Justin said, "You'll never say it. I know you won't. You'll never say it."

"What? That you're fired?" Brian asked.

"Yes, that's what I want."

"Liar."

"No. I'm not lying." If Brian was going to make it a big game, something he could poke fun at and tease him about, he'd definitely rather be fired.

"That's what you want? You really want me to fire you so that you don't have to deal with it? You want me to make it easy for you just like Eric makes things easy, right?"

"We're over," Justin told him. "It wasn't easy with him."

"Maybe it should be. Maybe it has been with..." Brian wouldn't allow the word 'us' to finish his statement.

"Now you can't say it," Justin pointed out.

"All right, I will."

Justin sucked in a deep breath and held it, eyes darting everywhere but to Brian's face.

"You're fired."

Justin's head snapped back to look at Brian. "What?"

"There. You have your out. You're gone. Pack up your shit and leave."

"No."

"No?"

"I...." Justin stuttered, feeling weakened by the confusing confrontation. He wasn't sure if he understood any of what had just happened. "I don't…. Brian…I…"

"You wanted me to fire you and I have. You got what you wanted, Mr. Taylor."

"No. I didn't!" Justin yelled in frustration.

Brian shook his head in defeat and started to get up from the chair but Justin reached across the desk and grabbed Brian's tie, pulling him forward and kissing him hard before pushing him back down in his seat.

"Brian, Mr. Kinney."

"Taylor."

"I don't want you to fire me."

"Well I already did."

"Then I want you to take me back."

"You understand that you'll be required to be an honest, trustworthy, dedicated employee and friend."

They were friends again! That's all? That's all Brian wanted! Justin couldn't take that. He pushed his chair away from the desk, stood up and started to walk toward the door, unable to look at Brian.

"So it's just as hard for you to admit that you've fallen in love me as it was to admit that we were friends?"

Justin stopped moving as his heart bottomed out in his stomach, jumped back up where it belonged and proceeded to beat so rapidly it hurt. He wasn't sure if he'd actually heard Brian right because it seemed so fucking impossible that he had. The only way of knowing was if he turned around and faced him. As he did, he saw Brian was now sitting on the edge of his desk in the same positioned he had been sitting the first day that Justin had met him and imagined fucking him in that place. Now Brian sat there, giving him a much different expression than the sexy smirk that had garnered the lustful imagery in his head almost a year before. Brian had a vulnerable look on his face; one Justin hadn't ever imagined seeing.

He walked over to Brian and stood only inches away from his long legs. "You'll never say it," he said softly. "I don't need it in words but…"

"If we play 'I never' I might just take a toke one day," Brian offered.

Justin beamed at Brian a bright smile. "Do you think I'll take a hit too?"

Brian chuckled as he nodded. "Will you ever get over yourself?" he asked Justin, smiling slightly.

Justin cocked his head to the side and licked his lips once before replying, "I could ask you the same question. But what would be the point?"

Brian smirked and uncrossed his legs so Justin could step closer to him. "I guess that makes us equals."

"So you're not going to freak out every time I fuck you?"

"That depends, are you going to freak out every time I fuck you?"

"No," Justin promised, while cupping Brian's chin. "Mr. Kinney?"

Brian was going to have to punish Justin if he addressed him at work like that ever again. He'd been fighting throwing Justin over whatever surface was available for months whenever Justin called him 'Mr. Kinney', and those times he hadn't spoken his name in such a sexy voice. "Hmm?" Brian grunted, done with talking.

"Can I go first?"

Brian nodded slowly, knowing that this probably wouldn't be the only time he gave up control so easily. Justin had him hornier than he'd ever been, yet they weren't really touching in any overtly sexual way. Their bodies were close; their hands skimmed over one another, exploring, both reaching a contented level of gratification, which Brian never would have thought was possible. "What do you have in mind?" he asked, his hands cupping Justin's ass, testing its firmness with a slow squeeze.

Justin kissed just under Brian's left ear lobe and whispered, "I want to show you what I've been thinking about doing to you since the day you hired me."

Brian pushed Justin away from him, crossed his arms over his chest and said, "Go to it."

§ § § § §

Of course actually fucking Brian across his desk was much better than the hottest and dirtiest of fantasies Justin could have ever conjured.

Brian was on his back, draped over Justin's desk which seemed to be made for fucking because the width of it was perfect for him to rest his head comfortably an inch from the top edge while his ass rested on the bottom edge. He was dressed in only his button up shirt and tie, the striped shirt was pushed up under his armpits and the tie was almost completely undone, the silk sliding against Brian's right nipple in tandem with vibrations made from the thrust of Justin's thick cock inside of him. He was practically silent as Justin fucked him, but every now and then he'd elicit a low 'Uh' or 'Mmmm' noise that he just couldn't keep inside of him.

Those quiet sounds coincided with Brian's ass muscles rippling, wrapping Justin's cock in a tight wet heat that drove Justin to the cusp of orgasm. Justin managed to hold off, with every surprising noisy breath expelled from Brian's throat, but only because the excitement and need to stay inside Brian for as long as possible exceeded the need to come. That was until Brian wrapped his arms around his back, pulled him close and began devouring his mouth while purposefully squeezing his ass so tight and never letting up.

With anyone else, Brian never would've even considered doing what he was doing at that second. It wasn't just him bottoming, no it was much more. He was bottoming, face to face, lying across his employee's desk and getting fucked. But Justin wasn't just anyone, and fuck he was giving Brian the best fuck he'd ever had! It had started off with a bit of hesitation on his part and he'd almost considered putting a stop to Justin's fantasy as Justin ordered him to lie back on the desk once his pants had been taken off. But he took the risk and as soon as Justin began pumping into him, expertly fucking him in a way that Brian had only before imagined he had the skill to do, Brian lost any inhibitions he'd ever had.

Brian pushed all doubts and trepidations away from him and opened himself up to Justin. He didn't want their first fuck to be some run of the mill quickie in the office, he wanted it to last and as Justin took him to edge for the fifth time he had to release the grip he had around Justin's torso and use one hand to stroke his cock, he was ready to come and he knew Justin was ready too.

They kept their eyes open and mouths sealed together as their orgasms first rocketed through their bodies for the first few seconds. Justin fell to the side, moaning into Brian's neck as his body weakened with the force of the next rippling took over him. Brian gripped Justin's ass in his hands and used the tight space between their stomachs to thrust his cock in between as he lost all senses and came loudly with complete abandon.

§ § § § §

Brian hated Justin's bathroom, the thing was designed for the colorblind and there was no functionality to it. The pedestal sink was too small and there was only a little space to keep a cup for toothbrushes on the back of the porcelain. The toilet was wedged right beside it, positioned so that you absolutely had to close the door to use it. He especially hated the claw foot tub and the tiny shower head, which wasn't a shower head at all. You actually had to detach the hose from the wall and spray off your body yourself.

After making themselves barely presentable they'd left work and gone to Justin's apartment because it was the closest to Exhibition and the sexual heat between them had been threatening to take over them practically the moment Justin had skimmed the condom from his dick and tossed it in his waste bin beside his desk.

Once at Justin's, Brian was pushed down onto the sofa and given a blow job that was a testament to the skill Justin had told Brian he had. The orgasm left Brian boneless and had Justin not decided to straddle his head and fuck his dick into his mouth, he wouldn't have had the energy to reciprocate the act for some time. After Justin came he straddled Brian's lap and they lazily kissed and touched one another until the setting sun reminded them that Brian was meeting Michael for dinner. This now included Justin too.

As Brian rinsed the conditioner from his hair he contemplated why it had taken him so long to actually realize that he was in love with Justin Taylor. He'd given up the luxury of his amazing shower many mornings and barely bitched about the uncomfortable and completely not relaxing showers he took at Justin's apartment, surrounded by tile that made his eyes want to bleed. He'd taken hundreds of showers at Justin's without much complaint. That should have been a sign that he had been sacrificing his comfort just to be with Justin. It was totally lame but true nonetheless.

"You're getting water all over the floor," Justin groused, throwing the towel he'd used to dry his hair next to the bathtub.

Brian momentarily ignored Justin, rinsed off his body one last time and turned off the taps. He grabbed a fresh towel from the rack and said, "If you had a real shower with an actual shower curtain, that wouldn't happen."

Justin laughed and toothpaste shot out of his mouth and splattered the medicine cabinet's mirror. "Whatever," he garbled, while brushing.

Brian dried himself methodically before stepping out. He noticed that Justin had toothpaste on his toothbrush ready for him; they always did this for one another. It was so totally domestic, but it hadn't ever bothered Brian, he hadn't ever even given it meaning, but now… Brian shrugged it off, it _was_ only toothpaste on a fucking toothbrush. His towel wrapped around his waist, he walked up behind Justin and wrapped his arms around him.

Justin spit into the sink and looked at Brian and him in the mirror. He had to close his eyes and open them to make sure he was actually seeing the silly smile adorning Brian's face.

"What are you doing?" Brian asked, as Justin closed his eyes a second time before opening them a few seconds later.

Justin shook his head, his damp hair tickling Brian's bare chest. "We're together and we're happy."

Brian loosened his hold on Justin and asked, "Why do you sound worried?"

"I'm not, I'm just… well it's sort of unbelievable that we are," he tried to explain. "I wasn't looking for…"

"I definitely concur," Brian said and kissed Justin's neck. "For months I've been hosing myself down when I could've been taking luxurious showers at my loft."

"Just so you know, I don't ever plan on living anywhere that doesn't have a bathtub," Justin joked. Or he thought he'd meant it as a joke but the implication that they would one day be living together came out of his mouth so easily.

Brian was going to let what Justin had said drop, but he wanted to press Justin and see if he meant it. He didn't want to be another Eric to Justin; he wasn't going to waste his time if that's what it was. However, talking about their future, if they had one, seemed like an awful prospect to Brian. He made to comment off-handedly, "I suppose a separate bath and shower can be arranged," but there was more promise in his words than he'd intended.

Justin gave Brian a relaxed smile and remembered what he'd first gone in the bathroom to tell him, which Brian's naked body spraying water everywhere had made him forget. "Oh, Michael called while you were in the shower." He backed away from Brian and walked into the bedroom. "I heard his ring," he explained, going through Brian's pants pocket to find the phone.

"I'm supposed to have dinner with him," Brian called back. Really, he wanted to stay at Justin's so they could fuck their brains out but Justin had already been telling him he was hungry. But that meant bringing Justin along with him, which meant a slew of other shit Brian wasn't sure he wanted to deal with.

Justin returned to the bathroom and handed Brian his phone. "I'm going to clean up," he informed, touching his lips to Brian's, feeling a heady rush envelop him from just the small peck.

Brian brushed his teeth and dressed before he called Michael. "You rang, Mikey?"

"Mom heard we were having dinner and now she's making lasagna. So meet me over there at six and we'll go to Woody's after?"

"Can't make Woody's, but I'll see you for dinner." Brian took a deep breath and added, "I'm bringing Justin."

"Yeah, I figured," Michael replied. "Gotta go, I've got a customer."

Brian laughed as he closed his cell phone and pocketed it. "I guess it'll be a surprise."

§ § § § §

"You didn't tell me that everyone was going to be here," Justin commented.

"I didn't know." Brian parked the jeep behind Melanie and Lindsay's station wagon. "This should get us out of making an appearance for dinner on Sunday," he reasoned.

Justin rubbed his hand up from Brian's knee and rested it on his crotch. He rubbed over Brian's bulge and asked, "Do you have plans for Sunday, Mr. Kinney?"

Brian grabbed the back of Justin's neck and brought him into a crushing kiss. "What have I told you about calling me Mr. Kinney?" he asked breathlessly, pushing Justin away from him.

Justin bit his lip and mock-innocently batted his eyelashes. "You'll have to refresh my memory."

"Unless you want to lose your virginity in the back of my Jeep parked in front of Debbie's house, you will get out of this car this very second and refrain from touching me, looking at me or…or…"

Justin giggled as he threw open the car door, stepped out into the freezing air and turned back to smile smugly at Brian. "Or talking to you?" he finished for Brian.

"Fuck you," Brian growled, adjusting his boner.

Justin laughed louder. "No, fuck you." As Brian joined him on the sidewalk, he put his hand over his mouth and gasped, "Oh wait, I already did and you'll have to wait until dinner is over before you'll get to fuck me."

Brian drew back his left arm and slapped Justin's ass as hard as he could, nearly making Justin pitch forward into the snow.

Justin rubbed his tender ass and warned, "I'm thinking that I might want to stay for dessert too."

§ § § § §

Brian didn't bother knocking on Deb's door, it was too cold outside to wait and they were expected anyway. He pushed the door open, and with a glance at Justin's cold-watery eyes and pink cheeks, he pushed him inside first.

Michael and Ben were sitting on the sofa, having what appeared to be a funny conversation about whatever book it was that Michael held on his lap. Their attention immediately shifted from the book to Brian and Justin who were stomping their snowy shoes off on the rug in front of the door.

"Hey!" Michael and Ben greeted in unison before giving one another lovesick looks.

"Hey," Brian and Justin replied together, a moment before mock gagging and scrunching their noses in distaste.

Ben and Michael shook their heads as they watched Brian help take Justin's coat off him and hang it on the rack with the others. Brian ran his hands up and down Justin's cashmere covered arms, warming him, coaxing a relaxed smile to form on his face. Michael and Ben held in whatever they wanted to say about it. They both knew that they'd seen something much more romantic and intimate than jinxing words with their lover.

"Smells so good in here," Justin declared, rubbing his stomach.

Brian licked his lips as he watched a tiny bit of Justin's back expose itself to his trained eye before the blue sweater he wore fell back into place above his round ass, accentuated by a perfectly tailored pair of charcoal gray slacks. He wanted to drag Justin right out the door and lock them both in his loft for weeks. He considered the possibility for a whole ten seconds, his plan thwarted by the sound of his son's voice.

"Dad, you're here! I'm hungry!" Gus exclaimed.

"What? I don't even get a hello?" Brian asked. "You care more about the food than seeing me?"

"Well come on," Justin muttered, "it's Deb's lasagna."

Debbie laughed and ruffled Gus' hair as she came into the living room behind him. "Go wash up kiddo."

"Ookay." Gus gave Brian and then Justin a quick hug before he ran upstairs to the bathroom.

Debbie smiled at Justin. "It's good to know you appreciate my cooking."

"I definitely do," Justin said, "thanks for inviting me."

"You're always welcome here," Debbie said, pinching Justin's cheek. "Now the man next to you who has made us all eat late…"

"Actually," Justin cut in, "it is my fault we're late."

"You really don't have to defend him," Melanie added, joining them with Lindsay on her heels.

"He's late to everything except work," Lindsay explained.

"Or 'dates'," Emmett added, making quotation marks in the air.

"We're used to it," Ted spoke up, walking down the staircase.

Brian rolled his eyes and looked over at the dining table where Blake was sitting across from Jenny, looking completely awkward. "Aren't either of you two going to say something about me being," he glanced at his watch, "four minutes late?"

Blake shook his head, "I'm sure you'll offer to fire Ted already, so…"

Feeling bad for the man whom she worshipped, Jenny declared, "You come right on time, Uncle Brian!" She ditched her chair and ran over to Brian, hugging him around the knees.

Everyone of course burst into laughter, but Jenny had no idea what was so funny. She looked at Justin with a pout and said, "Don't make him late."

"I'll try not to," Justin promised. He wondered what her reaction would be when she found out that Brian was off the market.

§ § § § §

Brian and Justin were both immensely surprised that they had gotten through the entire dinner with no one any wiser to their recent 'status'. Sure, Ted knew but he also knew better not to spill the beans before Brian or Justin did the honors. It was perplexing, because they weren't holding back their affection, sure, they hadn't made out or groped, but that was hard to do while stuffing their mouths with lasagna in front of two children.

After dinner, Justin turned down dessert and they were almost about to leave when he spotted the book on the coffee table that Michael and Ben had been looking at when they'd walked in. "Are you in here?" he asked Brian, retrieving it.

"He sure is," Michael snickered. "That's from our senior year."

Brian gave Justin an evil look. "If you open that, I'm leaving you here," he warned.

"We can take him home," Ben offered.

Brian turned his glare to Ben. "No, thanks."

"Oh, come on," Melanie teased, "what's it matter if he sees your high school pictures."

"We all have," Lindsay told him.

"I can't believe you still have those," Brian said, trying his best to appear unbothered. There was one picture in particular that he didn't ever like looking at and he hated that everyone else had seen it.

"Ma had Carl get them down for me from the attic," Michael explained. "I figured Justin should see what you looked like when you were practically his age."

"Hey!" Justin griped. "I do not look like a teenager."

"Brian never really looked like a teenager either," Debbie said wistfully.

Brian groaned, "Fine, have a look. I'm going to have a cigarette."

Justin felt everyone's eyes on him as he watched Brian try to act casual as he walked away. He couldn't believe that Brian would become so pissed about him looking at his yearbook. He'd shared his own with Brian, so he really didn't get what the big deal was.

"He's on page twelve or something," Michael said, standing beside Justin.

Justin slowly turned to the page and felt relief as everyone but Gus and Michael slowly fell into their own conversations.

"Can I see too?" Gus asked. "I didn't get to see before."

"Sure, buddy," Justin said, sitting down on the sofa. He scanned the black and white photos, looking for Brian.

"There he is," Gus said, pointing Brian out. "He looks just like me."

"He really does," Michael agreed, looking fondly from the photo to Gus. "And you're great at soccer just like he was."

Justin gazed at the picture, surprised at how right Debbie had been. Brian really didn't look like a teenage at all. He had hardness in his eyes, in his overall expression, even if though he was smiling. Justin could see the resemblance to Gus too, but there was a big difference between Gus and Brian. In the photo, Brian looked gorgeous, but he looked tortured too and Justin didn't think it had anything to do with teenage rebellion. He doubted that Gus would ever look that way.

"Gus, come play Go Fish!" Jenny called from the dining table.

Gus' attention was diverted from the yearbook, he ran over to the table and giggled, "I'm gonna beat ya at it."

"You too, Daddy!" Jenny said, calling Michael over. "You can be on my team."

"All right, pumpkin," Michael said, leaving Justin to page through the yearbook on his own.

Justin flipped to the index in the back and found two more pages where Brian had his picture. One for chemistry club, where he was making a put upon 'too cool' expression and the other picture was the varsity soccer photos. When Justin saw that picture, he knew exactly why Brian hadn't wanted him to look at the yearbook. The photographer took the picture at an angle, printed in black and white and all you could see was Brian's beautiful profile. The group picture was different, taken head on and in color. Justin saw that Brian's entire right side of his face was black and blue, his eye practically swollen shut. He imagined thousands of ways that Brian would've gotten so hurt in a span of a few seconds.

"You done?" Brian asked, startling Justin.

Justin looked behind him and up at Brian as he shut the book, trying to form a neutral expression on his face when all he wanted to do was hug the man and offer him comfort for decades old hurts. He wasn't stupid, he'd heard many references to Brian's father and the fact that he'd abused Brian, many things drew Justin to the conclusion that the abuse had a lot to do with why Brian was the way he was now. But seeing the physical results of the abuse was a lot different that just knowing it had happened.

"Yeah, I'm done." He honestly praised, "You were gorgeous in high school Brian. But I have to admit, I prefer you now." He looked around the room to see if anyone was listening and seeing that no one was, he leaned in close to Brian and whispered, "I like my men older."

"Uh huh," Brian croaked, a little caught off guard. He'd expected a remark about the soccer picture and even though Justin said nothing the excuse fell from his lips, "Soccer can be a rough sport."

Justin was angry that no one had helped Brian, angry that they'd put the picture into the yearbook, angry that Brian would still after all this time feel like he needed to lie about how he attained the bruises. Justin _knew_ it was a lie and he knew that Brian knew that he didn't believe it. It shocked him that their friends didn't seem to think it was a big deal to be showing off the album, knowing everyone would want to see Brian too. He suddenly realized Brian's explanation to him had probably been how he'd explained the bruises to everyone else and he suspected that for the most part, everyone believed him, even if they knew of his past. This wasn't exactly something new that he was learning about Brian, but it did shock him. Brian could sell _anything_. Except to him.

Justin buried his anger, knowing that now was not the time to question Brian about any of it. Today had been a good day and he could tell from the look on Brian's face that he needed to drop all talk of the past. "Let's get going," he said, "we have plans."

Brian thought about all the plans he had for Justin and instantly his mood shifted and his mind was back on getting Justin to his place as quickly as possible.

They pulled on their jackets and started to say their goodbyes when Lindsay asked Justin, "Do you and Eric want to come over for dinner next Saturday? We thought we'd throw a little holiday party. Mel has a stuffed baked tomato recipe she wanted to try."

Brian laughed as he pulled his gloves on and gave Justin a sly grin.

"Eric won't be able to make it," Justin replied, grinning back at Brian. "But Brian and I will come."

Melanie laughed, "I don't think Brian will want to come."

Lindsay placed her hand on Justin's arm and attempted to explain, "We've invited couples: Vivian and Laura, Jackie and Denise, Debbie and Carl, Ben and Michael, Ted and…"

"Brian and Justin," Brian interrupted her, smirking deviously.

Every other conversation in the room abruptly ended making for an uncomfortable silence and everyone's eyes to land on Brian and Justin.

"You're boyfriends!" Gus yelled, wrapping his arms around Justin's waist. "I told Dad that you were," he insisted to Justin.

"You did?" Justin asked, feeling uncomfortable.

"But he's mine!" Jenny whined, crossing her arms over her chest as she looked up at Justin with an angry look.

"When did this happen?" Debbie asked.

"Brian, I can't believe you stole Justin from Eric!" Lindsay gasped.

"Daddy you don't steal, do you?" Gus asked worriedly.

"Justin stole," Jenny grumbled, "I liked you but not now."

"Of course not, Sonny-boy," Brian assured, ruffling Gus' hair. "And Justin didn't steal me either Jenny."

"Brian didn't do anything that caused Eric and me to break up," Justin said. "And I don't think we need to be talking about this," he glanced down at Gus and Jenny, "do we?"

"No, we don't," Michael said. "It's between you and Brian and by the way; we've seen what 'it' is between you two for a long time."

Emmett nodded. "Electricity."

Debbie kissed Brian's cheek and then Justin's. "I knew there was something going on between the two of you."

Justin blushed and wiped Debbie's lipstick off his cheek. "Apparently we were the last to know."

"Last week everyone at Exhibition took bets to see how long it'd take you two together," Ted revealed.

Brian glared. "And who may I ask won?"

Ted grinned. "I did, of course. They have no idea that I'm practically an inside source."

"Well I'll be expecting you to donate your winnings to a charity of my choice," Brian warned.

"Of course, Bri," Ted replied laughing.

"Justin, I hope you know what you're doing," Melanie said, concerned.

"Actually, I've never been more confused and yet at the same time more sure of anything, Mel. You don't have to worry about me."

"All any of you need to know is that we're together now. And we're leaving," Brian said, pulling Justin toward the door.

"Bye!" Justin yelled as Brian pulled him out of Debbie's house.

TBC In Chapter 13


	13. "Long December"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If you have previously read this story and are reading the new chapters: **You MUST go back and read chapter 12. I put a lot of stuff in there that is new and moved some things in it to this one interweaving lots of the old stuff and new in these chapters. But there is about 16,000 words or maybe more that is written new for this story. You have to go back and read 12 before you read this. **

**Endeavor**

**Long December**

 

_Change is the essence of life. Be willing to surrender what you are for what you could become._

Brian took his time undressing Justin. He'd seen every part of him before, but having the blond on his bed, wanton and open _all for him_, made it so much better. He could no longer be idle in his lust. Nothing could stop him from doing exactly what he wanted to do from the moment he met Justin. Adoring Justin's body, it would be an endless endeavor, but Brian had waited long enough.

He began by licking and kissing Justin's soft skin, starting with his right arm, coating the freckles adorning it in a layer of saliva that seemed to rejuvenate and pour from his mouth with every new spot he tasted.

"Brian!" Justin grunted with frustration as Brian moved to suck his left nipple. He embedded his fingernails in Brian's shoulders when Brian bit him hard. "Please, we really don't need foreplay."

Brian tipped his face up to look at Justin as one of his hands spread Justin's legs, coasted past his balls and explored the dip of his ass cheeks. "You're so eager to have a real cock fuck that little hole, aren't you?"

Justin wasn't going to lie. "Yes, yes I am." He spread his legs even wider and felt Brian's fingers brush across his scar, the sensation just as thrilling as the first time he'd touched him there. "Fuck me," he begged, pulling Brian's sweaty hair.

"I want to eat your hot little hole first," Brian whispered, his hand sliding up from Justin's ass to grasp his dripping cock. "Do you want that? Do you want to feel my mouth, my tongue in the same place my dick is going to be?"

"Yes." Justin grunted from every tug on his dick.

Brian moved so he lie beside Justin and spoke against his temple, "You want me to rim your tight ass. Tell me. Do you want me to taste you before I fuck you? Cause when I'm done, you'll smell and taste like the both of us. All my sweat will be dripping into your crack, mixing with yours. Do you want me to taste your virgin ass?"

Justin's body actually swooned. He'd never been one for dirty talk, but Brian Kinney could make ordinary words sound sexy, so saying intimate, dirty things that echoed and expanded upon his dream was leaving him moments away from his undoing. One of his hands had fallen to drape across Brian's hip and he gripped and begged, "Taste me, Brian."

Brian chuckled softly and knelt beside Justin. "Roll over," he ordered, letting go of Justin's cock.

Justin was on his hands and knees so fast he might've been embarrassed if he wasn't such a whore for Brian's tongue. Anywhere the man had licked him had felt incredible and he couldn't wait another second to feel what it was like to have Brian's tongue inside of his ass.

Brian took a mental picture of Justin, he was without doubt, the most beautiful man he'd ever had in his bed and his ass was indescribable. He couldn't exactly fathom how in the fuck he'd restrained himself for almost a year without eating it. Justin's pert ass begged for a fucking and appeared made for it. Brian longed to suck upon the tiny entrance, lick and taste the inside, bite around the rim and perform every other pleasurable action that he could come up with to worship all the other parts of Justin's perfect body. Brian _needed_ to do these things to him, even before Justin's rump began to tauntingly sway at him.

Brian gave an unrestrained growl as he parted Justin's ass cheeks and dove in. He bathed the tiny scar in spit first, allowing it to drip down to Justin's hole, allowing more saliva to pool just outside of it. He was so intent on wetting Justin's crack that it took him a few moments for his ears to cue in on the noises Justin was making. He paused his actions and spoke, his mouth against Justin's hole, "You want me to tongue fuck you?"

"Yes!" Justin yelled, his body quivering in anticipation. He'd been begging for that but already he could hardly handle speaking a coherent sentence. Of course, Justin knew that Brian would be amazing at rimming, but in just a few licks he'd left him boneless and he hadn't expected that.

"Say it," Brian muttered and started to circle Justin's asshole.

"Fuck my ass…." Justin took a deep shuddering breath as Brian bit his ass cheek. "Put your tongue inside me, Brian!"

Brian did, or he tried to. Justin's asshole was so tight that after the fourth try to push inside he had to try another tactic and grabbed Justin's thick cock, stroking it to help relax him. It immediately worked and Brian actually 'mmmd' and growled as Justin's silky heat met his tongue and he tasted Justin's core and knew that he'd never be able to rim anyone else again. Justin's stellar ass had most definitely ruined him for life. However, it was a great ruin, one which Brian eagerly enjoyed as much as Justin enjoyed being on the receiving end.

§ § § § §

Justin deliriously smiled as Brian crawled between his legs and draped his body against his own. Brian had turned him onto his back after he'd collapsed onto his face and had almost been in danger of suffocating, not that Justin noticed since he'd been feeling after shocks from coming so hard he literally saw stars. And all from Brian tonguing and oh god, sucking on the folds of his ass too, which is something Justin hadn't even thought of ever doing to anyone. He was sort of in disbelief when Brian had let go of his cock and had told Justin that he would only come from being rimmed, he hadn't thought it possible. Thank fucking Christ it was! Justin wasn't nearly afraid to actually be fucked by Brian if he'd had such an intense orgasm purely from the ministrations of his tongue!

"Now you know what rimming is, Sunshine." Brian's voice had gone hoarse from all the noises he'd been making while rimming Justin.

"I'd like… to try that on you," Justin said, his words slurring as he fought hard to piece them together.

Brian dipped his head down and kissed Justin softly, just using his lips to coax Justin's open, then leaving Justin to open his mouth and stick their tongues together so he could know the taste that had driven Brian mad with lust. He felt Justin's cock drip a little more come out against his own shaft as he rubbed their cocks together, shifting his hips in a circular motion.

Justin breathed heavily as he took his mouth from Brian's and licked his lips. "Yeah, I definitely want to know what you taste like too."

"Maybe next time," Brian suggested. His asshole twitched as he acknowledged how good it had felt when Justin fucked him and how much his ass still ached from it. He'd shamelessly loved every moment of it.

In retrospect, Brian thought it had seemed like the sexiest, most fucked up movie every written. The turnaround scenario of employee fucking the boss could've come from a porn flick, the declaration of love was straight out of a Hallmark movie and the tension leading up to it all made the moment that he allowed Justin into his body so much sweeter. Justin knew how to fuck and Brian couldn't deny that for once he actually could consider being a semi-bottom for Justin. To summarize, Justin had blown Brian's mind and he wanted to do it again, as soon as he returned the favor of course.

Justin could read Brian's mind from the expression on his face. He'd seen it before and as he wrapped his legs around his slim waist he said, "It's my turn. I'm ready."

Brian tore the condom wrapper with his teeth and slipped the latex over his dick. "Not yet," Brian said gently. "I have to open you up first."

"Okay." In two seconds, Justin's mind changed and now he started to feel nervous. But he knew he could it do it, no second thoughts entered his mind. He poured lube onto Brian's fingers, squeezed it onto his hole and waited for what he'd always wanted. He relaxed as Brian fingered him for nine torturous minutes, his expert fingers massaging his prostate and reigniting his erection.

Then, Brian declared his hole was as open as it could be and he placed the tip of his cock against Justin's asshole. He pushed inside slowly while kissing Justin, his eyes squeezed tight as he focused on making one long thrust into velvet tight heat.

Justin gasped for air and took Brian's breath into his body along with Brian's cock.

§ § § § §

Brian was sure Justin was born ambidextrous because he was just as good at bottoming as he'd been at topping. His stamina wildly matched his own and though he begged Brian to allow him to come, he never complained when Brian would slow their pace and leisurely thrust and grind into his hole. They'd changed positions and condoms a few times but they were now back to Justin lying on his back, but his legs were pushed up high on Brian's shoulders and he was folded in half as Brian fucked him.

"Stroke your dick," Brian whispered against Justin's sweaty cheek.

Justin wedged his hand in between their bodies and began to tug on his purple-hard cock. "I need to come, Brian."

Brian nodded, keeping his rhythm. He felt the indentation of Justin's scar give friction to shaft every time he pulled out of his hole and pushed back in. It was a different texture than his wet tight hole, or soft ass cheeks. A bonus trigger to every thrust he made. He placed his fingers on Justin's stretched hole and then upon his scar. "This…I'd better not ever hear you bitch about this again," Brian warned, fucking Justin faster and deeper. "You have no… idea… how good it feels… on my cock while I'm fucking you."

Justin came then, unexpectedly, choreographed, surprisingly, intentionally and a whole other bundle of useless descriptions of words that couldn't ever describe just how hard and impossibly strong his orgasm actually was. Brain waited for Justin's come to fizzle out a little before he entered into his own. Justin watched him, his blue eyes heavy-lidded but intent upon seeing what the man looked like as he came from the pleasure of being inside of him. He held on to Brian's forearms, as his nerves seemed to explode from the inside out, sparking fire into Justin that cumulated in another jerk from his own body and more come to spurt out of his dick. This made him even dizzier with lust and bliss as his mind rolled with the waves inside of him.

When he was a little more stable, Justin attuned himself to Brian's movements. Apparently, he was doing his best to crawl into his body as his come continued. Justin grabbed Brian's ass, trying to help the endeavor, pulling his groin as close as he could get it to his ass while using his muscles to keep Brian inside of him. Brian gave a long deep moan that Justin felt wrapped inside of as he shook a few more times and fell onto him. This position splayed his legs out awkwardly, painfully and without care to his comfort. But Brian was in _such a good fucking place_ that he obviously couldn't think about that and couldn't do anything more than feel the tidal waves of tremors.

Justin had watched Brian through it all, he'd wanted it for him as much as he needed it for himself. He loved the excitement his own body felt as more shakes passed through him just from watching Brian unashamedly use his body for release. Justin knew that it had to have been the same for Brian when he'd been inside of him. He'd allowed Justin to use him, but trusted him enough to give him everything he'd just given Justin.

When Brian's eyes opened and he and Justin stared at one another with hazy eyes, satisfied, silly smiles, sweaty skin, aching muscles and hearts beating so rapidly against one another's, they both thought, 'this is what love feels like', even if they'd never actually admit their ridiculous thoughts aloud.

§ § § § §

The next morning, Brian and Justin did their absolute best to avoid everyone. Surprisingly, it wasn't very hard, only Michael had called Brian's cell and left one message inviting he and Justin to meet he and Ben at Babylon that night. In a break between bouts of sex, Brian called Michael back, assured him that he and Justin had a lot of fucking to do and wouldn't be going to Babylon.

They did however, go over to Justin's place because he was 'just itching' to sketch Brian. Justin had many of his art supplies at Brian's loft, but he didn't have the particular sketchbook he wanted to use. The sketchbook he wanted to use contained the start of a full body nude of Brian. Now that he knew Brian's body, he wanted to perfect the secret sketch and figured that they could both use a small break in between rounds of fucking.

Brian watched Justin's ass slightly sway back and forth, as they walked toward the elevator in the lobby. It was as though Justin's ass controlled him now. Which he thought was totally fucked up, but didn't care enough to dwell on it. His sore cock was already at full mast and he contemplated the time it would take for the elevator to reach Justin's floor because he was going to demand a blowjob on the way.

"I'm telling you, Daphne, you have to try it," Justin sighed, "it's wonderful."

Brian was more than a little surprised that Justin would share such graphic descriptions with his straight best friend over the phone. He hadn't expected it at all and hoped that Justin wasn't going to be telling her everything. He didn't like the thought of anyone knowing how full Justin felt when he was inside of him. Brian wanted that to be just for him, he couldn't believe that he thought that way, but he did. It was somewhat sick that he'd gotten hard on the drive over all because Justin had detailed his first time being fucked.

It occurred to Brian that he'd have to have a real conversation about that kind of shit. He **hated** the very thought of even implying that he wanted to keep the details of their sex life private, unless it involved someone that was part of the sex. He knew there would be many times that'd be the case and he probably wouldn't give a shit if Justin wanted to relay every moan and thrust to Daphne or the whole fucking world, but the times they were alone, he wanted that for he and Justin alone. Brian realized his logic was really fucked and almost decided to let it all drop when Justin's next statement made him think otherwise.

"No, I didn't fuck the trick over the desk but…"

Brian grabbed Justin's cell phone, pushed him through the opening elevator doors and spoke into the cell, "Justin will call you back, Daphne."

"Hey!" Justin groaned and tried to get his phone back. "What'd you do that for? I didn't take your phone away when you were talking to Michael."

Brian held the phone out of Justin's reach with one hand while he pressed the button for Justin's floor with the other. "Well I didn't tell Michael about how tight your virgin ass was or how good your come tastes."

Justin stopped jumping for the phone as the elevator rose and he decided just to glare at Brian. "Why not? I know for a fact you think I have the tightest ass you've ever fucked and the best come you've ever tasted."

Brian rolled his eyes and thrust the phone back into Justin's hand. "I didn't tell him because he has enough tact not to ask." _Yet_.

Justin's eyes widened. "Are you saying Daphne has no tact?"

"I'm saying you don't," Brian explained, "because you're the one who is telling Daphne every fucking position we tried, every fucking…"

"Whoa," Justin gasped, "I didn't think it was a big deal. It's not like she's going to tell anybody."

"Yeah, well Mikey wouldn't either. But I'm not gabbing to him."

"But we tell everyone at the diner about all the tricks we've picked up. I don't understand what the difference is if I tell Daphne about us. I told her everything about me and Eric."

The elevator stopped and the buzzer dinged as the doors opened.

Brian gave Justin a pointed look and said, "Nice to know there isn't a difference."

Justin slapped his forehead and followed Brian out into the hallway. "Fuck. You know that's not what I meant. I'm sorry." He grabbed Brian's arm before the man could turn the corner and brought them face to face. "I'm sorry, really I am." Justin kissed Brian's chin and gave him a truly apologetic look. "Of course there's a difference between Eric and especially with tricks. I know that. I guess I just was caught up. I was so excited to tell someone about the amazing sex we had. Jesus Brian, I think you fucked a few brain cells out of me."

Brian sighed, allowed his tension to drift out of his body and pulled Justin against him. "I suppose I need to fuck some back into you?" he growled playfully.

"Oh, yes, Mr. Kinn…"

"Oh my!"

Brian and Justin startled and broke apart.

Jennifer covered her blushing face for a moment and mumbled into her hands. "I… I… stopped by to see if you wanted to go to dinner with me."

Justin was mortified and wanted to ask what his mother had heard as she came around the corner, but it was obvious by her expression that she'd heard enough. "You… you didn't call," he deadpanned.

Brian had the nerve to laugh. "Duh."

"My cell phone died, I forgot to charge it," Jennifer explained, trying to gain some composure. Her eyes became the size of saucers as she realized the impact of what she'd heard. "Are you two… did you break up with Eric?"

Justin was glad for the change in the conversations direction. This, this he could handle. "Yeah, we are and yeah, I did."

Jennifer looked at Brian with a stern expression and asked, "Did you finally do it?"

Brian laughed again and received a slap to his shoulder from Justin. "What? It's not my fault she asked me that."

"I meant," Jennifer attempted to explain, "did you finally tell my son that you're in love with him?"

"Mom!" Justin gasped. "That isn't any of you business."

"Of course it is," she insisted. "I've been watching you two drool over one another for months. But the last time I tried to get you to look at your relationship with Eric, you wouldn't talk to me for a month. I'd hoped that Brian would find the courage and speak up."

"I did," Brian said, shrugging his shoulders. "I spoke up. But he did too."

Justin blinked and almost pinched himself, wondering if he'd entered the twilight zone and Brian had actually told his mother what he think he heard.

Jennifer gave Brian a hug and smiled fondly at Justin. "Well after the bad day I've had you two have managed to give me some good news."

"Good news?" Justin laughed. "You liked Eric, Mom. I figured you'd be…" He stopped himself when he looked at his mother's expression, which had turned sour.

"I used to think of Eric as another son," Jennifer said, "but that changed when I started to see how miserable you were with him. But I couldn't do anything to change it."

"Anyway," Brian cut in, tired of talking about Eric, "Justin was going to f…"

Justin put his hand over Brian's mouth, he couldn't believe the man was about to tell his mother that he was on the way to being fucked by him! "I was going to finish a sketch."

Brian glared at Justin. "That's what I was going to say."

Jennifer rolled her eyes. "I guess that means you don't want to join me for dinner."

Justin felt guilty. "Well, I guess we could…"

"No, we couldn't," Brian interrupted.

"No, you really couldn't," Jennifer repeated genuinely. "You've got much more exciting things to do than having dinner with me. We'll get together for lunch next week, okay?"

Justin blushed furiously and mumbled, "Okay."

Jennifer gave Brian a smile but her lips thinned out a moment later and she said, "Be good to him."

"I will be," Brian slyly spoke, "you can bet on that."

Justin yelped because in a flash Brian was dragging him around the corner by his elbow and throwing him against the door to his apartment. He barely was able to yell out, "Bye, Mom", before Brian's mouth covered his, rendering him speechless.

§ § § § §

Emmett rubbed his hand on Justin's head. "So, how was your weekend? Besides the whole hair incident."

Justin pushed Emmett away and laughed at him. "I'm sure you know I had the best weekend I've had in…"

"Your life?" Brian filled in, sitting back down in the booth seat across from Justin and beside Michael.

"Oh, shut up," Justin groaned, putting his hands over his face. "Why does everyone in this world need to know that we finally fucked?"

"Whoa! Hold up honey," Emmett spoke dramatically. "Do you mean to tell me that this weekend was the first time you two slept together?"

Brian slapped one of Emmett's waving hands. "Shut the fuck up, Honeycutt."

"I'm sure the long, long, long, long, loooong wait made it that much better," Michael teased. "And you still haven't told us exactly what made you decide to get all your hair chopped off."

Justin groaned in annoyance as he took a sip of his coffee and grabbed for his wallet. "Are you ready to go?" he asked Brian.

Brian nodded and allowed Justin to put enough money on the table to cover his breakfast too. "Later, boys."

Emmett and Michael's laughter got louder and louder the faster Justin walked to the door and out of the diner.

Brian caught up with Justin as the younger man seemed intent upon pulling the handle off the passenger side door. "Take it easy, Timberlake," he chided, holding Justin's hand. "You look hot."

Justin glared at Brian. "Would you just open the door?"

Brian popped the locks, went around to the driver's side, and got in. "Would you stop the pissy mood? I'm not going to tell anyone why you had to get your hair cut."

"That's not why I'm pissed off," Justin lied. It was only part of it. "I just…" he couldn't explain it.

Brian started the engine with a smile on his face and pulled out of the space. He knew Justin. "Now you know how I felt when you proceeded to tell Daphne everything."

Justin glared. "I get it okay. You didn't have to devise a little plan to make them all hound us about it so I could see how you felt. Which I think is hilarious since you thought they'd have more tact."

Brian coughed. "I didn't. And they don't know a fucking thing, Justin. That's just how they are."

"You really didn't?" Justin asked.

"No. And just ignore them. They only continue to harass you because you react to them."

"Thank you, Psych 101." Justin crossed his arms over his chest and pouted.

Brian tried not to laugh. "Really, I think the hair makes you look sexy. And it's still long enough for me to have something to hold on to."

Justin's cock responded as his mind flashed back to Brian pounding into him while he pulled his head back by his hair so they could kiss. It had been so hot, feeling the pleasurable pain in his head and ass at the same time. A round of shivers coursed through his spine. "It won't be the same."

"It'll grow back," Brian purred, "and I'll pull the fuck out of it then, slut."

Justin shivered again, he loved that Brian could tell without touching him that he was turned on just thinking about the rough sex. "You know, your hair is pretty long," Justin said, waggling his eyebrows while petting Brian's head of hair.

"Don't even think about it," Brian said, reaching for Justin's hand and holding it in his own for a moment. He cleared his throat and broke the quiet romanticism before changing topics. "You know, you're lucky you didn't burn off anything else. As it is, you're going to have to get all knew bedding."

Justin was aghast. "Brian, just know. You are _never_ experimenting again with candle wax. _Never_."

"Uhuhm.. I'm not the one who suggested it." Brian changed his pitch of voice, "Oh, Brian let's try it. I've always wanted to try it."

Justin slapped Brian's thigh. "I never said that." Justin changed his tone to a deep rumble, "Come on, twat, let's see if you can take it. Let me pour hot wax on your nipples, set the candle down near your hair and light you on fire."

Brian roared with laughter. "That isn't what happened."

"Really, I'm going to film every time we fuck at my place for now on. For some reason, you always forget the things that happen there."

"You fuck me silly," Brian said, shrugging, "that's your fault."

"Uhuh. Like you don't beg for it."

"I don't recall that."

"Of course you don't," Justin quipped. He pulled down the passenger mirror and looked at his hair. "I look like I'm some hooligan off the street."

"No, you don't," Brian assured. "If your head was completely shaved, maybe, but this cut isn't so bad. It's hip."

Justin pushed at the front sweep of his bangs. "I need to get some wax to hold this in place; it's going to annoy me all day."

"I can send Cynthia out for it?" Brian offered.

Justin laughed. "She's not your secretary. I'm not going to have you threaten her into getting me hair product."

"Why not?"

"Because it's unethical."

"She's done it for me," Brian admitted. He thought back to the day he'd showered at work and discovered he was out of his pomade.

"You're _not_ serious."

"Oh, but I am."

Justin laughed uproariously. "That's so wrong. I really can't believe she did it for you."

"She _was_ my secretary at the time," Brian clarified. "I had a shit load of work to do before a big meeting with Pikolinos and I didn't want to go into it looking anything less than perfect."

Justin rolled his eyes. "So you're telling me that pomade helped seal the deal for Pikolinos shoes?"

"Everything is in the details. So, I suggest you learn from the master and tell your assistant to go out and get you some wax for your hair before our eleven o'clock meeting with Howard Frisk."

"Brian, in case you haven't noticed I don't exactly have an assistant. The whole liaison thing doesn't start until we're at our new offices."

"You are so fucking pessimistic today," Brian griped, "that's my job, Sunshine."

"Whatever."

Brian pulled into his space inside the parking garage and shut off the car. He turned to Justin who was still brooding and stopped him from getting out. "Do me a favor and at least go in here looking like you're proud to have a sore ass from your boss. I'll arrange to have your wax delivered. It is kind of ironic that you're going to use wax to fix your hair."

Justin shook himself out of his bad mood and gave Brian a fiercely passionate kiss. He couldn't go on all day being sour about his hair. It was gone and he didn't have magical powers to make it grow back in a day. He'd tortured himself and Brian about it enough. "Don't worry, Brian. I'll go in here looking like I'm proud to have fucked the boss across my desk."

"Yes," Brian said morosely, "that's exactly what I want."

Justin got out of the car and started walking out to the sidewalk. When Brian caught up with him, he replied. "Okay, you win. I'll go in there looking like I'm proud that the boss is in love with me. Does that suit you, Mr. Kinney?"

Brian kissed Justin's smug expression off his face every couple of steps they made toward Exhibition's doors. By the time they reached the entrance, he was so hard and ready to fuck Justin across his desk that he didn't really care what 'look' Justin did or didn't have when they walked in. He'd be busy trying to suppress himself from dragging him to his office. That would have to wait until after the Frisk Fisheries pitch.

§ § § § §

Brian licked a stripe along Justin's ribs, upsetting two globs of come and then going back to lick and suck on his torso and belly until the last spot of cream was gone.

Justin pulled Brian toward him and feasted on the come he offered in his mouth. He'd tasted his own come many times before he was with Brian, but tasting it in Brian's mouth made him savor it.

"You're such a slut for come," Brian teased. He rolled over to the side of the bed and grabbed a cigarette for himself and one for Justin.

Justin shrugged. He wasn't going to deny it. He kissed Brian's shoulder in thanks for lighting his cigarette and got out of the bed. "I'm thirsty."

"Me too, but first, I've got to piss."

Justin searched through Brian's refrigerator for the last can of Mountain Dew he just knew had to be in there. After moving everything around and looking in every drawer, he couldn't find it.

"Get me a bottle of water," Brian requested, joining Justin in the kitchen.

Justin grabbed two and closed the fridge before handing one to Brian. "My last can of Dew is missing," he bitched.

"That sucks." Brian opened his water bottle; apparently, the cap was very interesting because he didn't even glance at Justin.

Justin put his hands on his naked hips and glared as Brian finally looked up at him. "Did you drink it?"

Brian backed away a little. He wasn't sure what he'd been thinking, coming between Justin and his 46 grams of sugar was never good. "Hell no, I didn't drink it. Do you know that shit has 46 grams of sugar and 46 grams of carbs?"

"Ah, no Brian. I'm not obsessed with calorie counting like someone else I know." Justin took a long drink of his water and had a fleeting thought of spitting a mouthful out at Brian.

"Well, there's a 170 calories in just one can," Brian explained, "and absolutely _no_ protein."

"And how many grams of sodium?" Justin asked tightly.

Brian rolled his eyes. "I didn't fucking memorize the back of the can, Justin."

"Really?" Justin asked in disbelief, he pressed his foot onto the trashcan and the lid popped open. There on the top he saw the full, unopened can. He let the lid close and eyed Brian critically. "I think you did."

"That shits completely unhealthy!"

"You're sounding like someone else I…"

"Don't say it!"

"_Eric_. Eric used to bitch at me about that shit. He wouldn't even buy pop and put in his fridge for me. You did. So what the fuck is the problem now?"

"It was just a can of fucking pop, Justin. It's not the end of the world."

"You threw it away!" Justin yelled. "Why? Do you think I'm getting fat from it?"

"Fuck no," Brian swore, "I just I…" Fuck, he was in for it now. Now he'd just have to be totally honest with him. "Before when I'd stock my fridge with it, I didn't kiss you after you drank it and I noticed something else..."

"What? What else? My mouth tastes bad?" Justin was horrified. "Really?"

Brian tried to be gentle. "It's not just your mouth."

"My ass?" Justin gasped. All his anger left him as embarrassment overcame him. "My ass tastes bad from drinking Mountain Dew? Is that what you're trying to tell me?"

Brian knew that now was not the best time to laugh, but he couldn't help it. Justin was all flustered and thinking that his ass, the most delicious thing Brian had ever feasted upon, actually tasted bad. "No," he said, still giggling, "your ass is divine."

"Then what?" Justin asked before guzzling the last of his water, determined to flush out the Mountain Dew he'd had at lunch. He knew he should've bought the travel bottle of mouthwash but the taste always made him want to puke.

"Well, I can tell that you probably had some Mountain Dew when you were having lunch with your mother today."

Justin couldn't deny it.

"How could you tell that? I brushed my fucking teeth in the bathroom before I came back to work." He was sticking with this because he wasn't sure if he wanted Brian to know that he didn't use mouthwash when he knew Brian was meticulous about using it himself.

"See. I'm right. It's the Mountain Dew."

"What?" Justin was completely confused, embarrassed and okay, still a little angry. And pissed that his pride wouldn't allow for him to reach into the trash, wash the soda can off and drink from it, just to spite Brian's bullshit.

"The citrus acid in it makes your come taste a little funky."

"Are you serious right now?" Justin asked. He distinctly recalled that not ten minutes before he was thinking about how nice his come tasted.

Brian bit his lip and nodded. He'd previously decided that if he was going to be in a relationship with Justin he would always be honest about anything where sex was involved. He couldn't handle it any other way. He knew upon great experience that citric acid fucked with the taste of come but he had no idea that Mountain Dew had any in it. However, when he'd first tasted Justin's come it had been the sweetest come he'd ever had in his mouth and Brian had found himself thinking about sucking Justin's dick through out the day because he had a craving for the reward he'd receive if he did. But that all had changed when he'd sucked him off a couple of days ago and he'd tasted 'zing' in his cream.

Then, yesterday, when he'd kissed Justin while he'd been sipping on a pop at the diner he tasted orange juice. After he got home from work, he investigated the offending product and found the evidence. He planned to tell Justin in a much more controlled situation. Brian had thought he could just tell Justin he read it in an article or something and Justin would get the hint. If not, then Brian would just tell him that he needed to adjust his diet.

"You're sure it's the Mountain Dew?" Justin asked. "Not just me?"

Brian snorted. "Believe me. It's not you. Usually, the smell of your come makes my mouth water and when I taste it I can't get enough."

Justin shrunk. "But it didn't today?"

"I still liked it," Brian said, "but I could tell it was different than normal."

"I thought it tasted pretty good from your mouth," Justin admitted.

Brian pulled Justin close and wrapped his hand around his cock, pumping his shaft until his slit produced sticky come. He swiped his thumb over the head and then brought his hand up to Justin's mouth.

Justin was holding onto Brian's shoulders for support, he'd already come three times so becoming erect for a fourth time that afternoon wasn't something his body easily handled. He felt dazed and weak in moments and almost forgot what they'd been talking about just a few moments before. Then, he saw Brian's hand, he could smell his pre-come, could see how sticky it was between Brian's thumb and forefinger and he remembered. "You want me to taste it again?"

"Yeah," Brian goaded, sporting an erection now too, "lick your pre-come of my fingers, Justin. Taste it."

Justin looked into Brian's eyes as he opened his mouth and stuck out his tongue.

*Knock Knock Knock*

"Hold on," Brian yelled. He licked his fingers and stalked toward the bedroom. "You better put something on."

"Aren't friends supposed to call before they drop by?" Justin asked rhetorically. He followed Brian up the steps to the bedroom grinning. He hadn't missed Brian licking his lips after he'd eaten his pre-come from his fingers, which meant that it obviously wasn't as bad as Justin had thought.

"You don't," Brian said, pulling his jeans on. "And haven't you met all of them? They could care less if they interrupt us."

"Hey, I'm not just your friend anymore I'm your…" Justin paused and looked away from Brian, too chicken to discuss it while naked.

Brian pecked Justin's lips, "I'll go get the door."

Justin pulled out a pair of sweats from 'his drawer' and ran into the bathroom.

"Hold the fuck on," Brian yelled as the knocking persisted. He disarmed the alarm and opened the door a crack. When he saw who it was he nearly closed it again but for some reason unknown to him, he did the opposite and opened it wider. "How did you get into the building, Claire?"

"One of your neighbors was kind enough to let me in," Claire replied, pushing past her brother and entering the loft. She stopped just inside and looked around with her nose scrunched up.

"What the fuck do you want?" Brian spat, turning her to face him. "Wait… let me guess, money?"

Claire pushed Brian's arm off her shoulder. "I thought I heard voices," she said. "Is there someone here with you?"

As if on cue, Justin emerged from the bathroom, gingerly walking down the steps and looking completely fucked out. "Oh." He had no idea who the woman was.

Brian sighed. "Justin this is my estranged sister, Claire. Claire this is Justin."

Justin walked over to Brian and wrapped his arm around his waist. He knew very little about Brian's family but what he did know, he didn't like. "Nice to meet you?"

Claire nodded at Justin before glaring at Brian. "I need to speak to you alone, please."

"You still haven't answered me as to why you're here. I haven't seen you in years. Now, just tell me how much you need, I'll write you a check and you can get the fuck out."

"You still haven't changed, I see," Claire spit out. Looking at Justin she asked, "How long has he been keeping you?"

Justin took a step toward her, immediately enraged at her behavior. "Keeping me?" he asked. "Do you think I'm a fucking hustler?"

Brian laughed softly and held Justin against his chest. "I'd be careful, Sis, this one bites."

Claire stubbornly stood her ground. "I'm sure you like that."

"Actually, he does," Justin remarked, extracting himself from Brian's embrace.

"Disgusting. So, how old is he? Barely looks legal but we know that's what you like."

"Shut your mouth, Claire," Brian warned. "You know as well as I do that your kid is a lying little thief."

"He was confused," she insisted, "He's a good kid now, much better than you were at his age."

"I'm sure he is," Brian replied. "After all, I didn't go around lying about my uncle molesting me because he caught me stealing from him."

Justin was so shocked from what he'd heard he almost fell over. "What?"

"I'll tell you about that some other time," Brian told him. "It's a real heartwarming story, the kind only one of my family members could conjure."

"Would you stop making a big deal out of that, Brian?" Claire asked in all seriousness. "He was a kid. He apologized."

"Whatever." Brian steered his sister toward the door. "You have two minutes to tell me what the fuck you wanted, whether or not Justin is in the room is of no consequence."

"Fine." She glanced once more at Justin and gave a resigned sigh. "Mom sold the house and is moving in with me and the boys. I came to give you a key in case you didn't have one." Claire dug into her pocket and produced a key. "Here."

Brian didn't take it. "What the fuck do I want a key to that house for, especially if she sold it?" He had a key, somewhere, but fuck if he knew where it was.

"So you can get anything you want out of your bedroom. We're going away to Aunt Louisa's for Christmas when the boys get out of school Friday. We'll be back after the first, so you can stop by while we're gone. I don't want you upsetting Mom by dropping by while we're there. The new family moves in the last week of January so we'll be getting everything else out by then. Only…"

"You need some money to hire movers?" Brian filled in. "Justin, get my checkbook."

Justin could swear he'd heard wrong. He wanted to ask Brian what the fuck he was thinking giving any money to the woman, he wanted to know why after selling a house they couldn't afford to hire movers themselves.

"Justin, get my checkbook," Brian repeated, this time it wasn't a request.

Justin had a million questions to ask, but he had never seen Brian so vulnerable and guarded at the same time. He definitely didn't want to cause him any more stress so he quickly moved over to the office area and went in search of Brian's checkbook.

"How much do you need?" Brian asked.

"I'm guessing a couple thousand will cover it," Claire assessed.

Brian barked in laughter, "A couple thousand?"

Justin was back at Brian's side handing him the checkbook and pen, giving Claire an evil death glare the whole time.

"It's not like I'm asking you to help in any other way," Claire reasoned. "She is your mother too."

"Yeah, when she wants my money." Brian wrote out the amount, endorsed it and handed it to Claire.

"If you would at least try apologizing to her…"

Brian nearly snatched the check back. "After believing I molested your rug rat, who she knew had stolen from me, then coming into my office and telling me I got cancer as a punishment for being gay, you think I should apologize to her?" he roared. "Get out now, before I cancel the fucking check."

Claire ignored Brian's outburst and handed him the key. "Leave it on the dining table when you're done there."

Brian resisted throwing the thing. He doubted he would find anything he'd want from that house. "Yeah. Buh bye now. Tell Mommy dearest her fagot son said hi."

Claire gasped and shook her head the whole way out of the door. Justin didn't wait for Brian to do it, he walked over and slammed it shut. "And I thought my sister could be a bitch!"

"Claire's not a bitch," Brian corrected, rolling the key between his fingers, "she's a cunt."

Justin wasn't sure what he should say or do now, Brian was just standing there, staring at the key in his hand looking sad. He wasn't sure if it was the right thing to do after what Brian had just had to deal with but he figured he'd give it a go. "So, you wanna finish?" he asked, stroking his dick through his sweats.

Brian looked up at him, smiled and pulled him against him. He held Justin's eyes and slowly lowered his mouth and kissed him. Justin knew exactly what he needed. Justin was exactly what Brian had always needed.

§ § § § §

"Maybe you can go meet him there?" Justin suggested.

Michael grimaced. "The last time I stepped foot in that place was after his dad died. I'd rather not go back and relive those memories."

"Look, I don't know everything like you do about his past, but what I do know…"

"If you're so worried about him going over there by himself, why don't you just go?" Michael interrupted.

"I don't even know where it is," Justin deadpanned.

"Well I can tell you where it is, it's only a block and a half down from my mom's house. Or is there another reason you don't want to go?"

"Brian and I, we're still new. I don't know if we're even at the place where he'd want to share any of that with me. I mean, he knew I wasn't doing anything today, so he could've asked me to go if he wanted me to."

Michael scoffed. "You two are anything but new. Shit, you guys have been practically boyfriends for a year, even if you were with that other guy for most of that time."

"What?" Justin didn't get that logic at all.

"Like the first time I met you, I was pretty sure you guys were already in love with one another. The time in between then and now really doesn't mean shit. I mean… it does mean something but it doesn't."

"I get what you're trying to say," Justin conceded. "I just don't want Brian to freak out if I show up there."

"Are you worried he's going to break up with you if you do? Don't be. He wouldn't do that, not over _them_."

"You're sure? It's like… I know so much about who Brian is now, I'm not afraid to know the other stuff, but I guess there must be a reason Brian hides it. Just like there are reasons that I don't want to talk about some of the stuff in my past too. I don't want him to think I'm trying to force him to have some heart-to-heart with me."

"Then don't. Just show up and act normal."

"Show up and act normal? That's your advice? You really think that'll be okay?"

"One day you'll know the Brian Kinney manual cover to cover." Michael leaned over the counter and patted Justin on the shoulder. "But until then, you'll just have to take my word for it." He grabbed a piece of paper, wrote the address down with the house description and handed it to Justin. "You think you can find it?"

Justin looked at the slip of paper. "Eleven houses West of your mom's house, I'm sure I can." He zipped his leather coat and slipped on his gloves. "Wish me luck."

"You won't need it."

§ § § § §

Justin had rang the doorbell and knocked for the last five minutes, but there was no answer. The Vette was in the driveway, so Justin knew Brian was still there. He rang the doorbell again but this time realized he didn't hear any chimes going off. "Fuck." Giving up on Brian answering he tried the door handle and found it unlocked, it was too cold to stand outside and the longer he stood out there waiting the more he just wanted to leave.

"Brian?" he called out, walking into the foyer.

There was a living room off to the left and a dining room to the right. Justin thought it looked a lot like his grandmother's home but unlike her home, this house was absent of any real personality.

"Justin?"

Justin turned to his right and saw Brian standing in the doorway of the dining room. He didn't look mad, just surprised. He breathed a sigh of relief. "Hey. I tried the doorbell but I think it's broken and it was too cold to stand out there knocking." He took off his gloves and blew warm breath into his hands to accentuate his point.

"What are you doing here?"

"I thought I'd come by and see if you needed any help, you know, with packing."

Brian moved slowly toward Justin, unsure if he wanted to tell him to leave or not. "How did you even know where this was?"

"Michael." Justin thought Brian looked cute all caught and flustered and it was turning him on. "Is it okay? If not, I can leave."

"You can stay," Brian finally answered after thinking about it for a moment. He laughed as he saw a large cross hanging on the wall beside them and gave Justin a deep passionate kiss just for the fuck of it.

Justin laughed with Brian as they broke the kiss. "There's a lot of crosses," he commented, spotting a bunch of smaller ones hanging all over the place.

"It's to keep out the bloodsuckers," Brian joked, biting Justin's neck and sucking until a small hickey appeared. He held Justin's hips tightly as predictably he sagged against him. Making Justin weak-kneed was one of Brian's favorite things to do, especially because he could do it so easily. "Or maybe to keep out the cocksuckers?" he guessed, sliding the back of his hand along Justin's boner. "What do you think?"

"I think that if you don't stop stroking my cock I'm going to come in my pants right here." He pulled at his coat's collar. "Or I might just overheat."

Brian started to unbutton Justin's coat and asked, "Weren't you painting today?"

"I was blocked." Justin was happy that the surprise of him showing up was going a lot better than he'd thought it would. "I needed to see my muse."

"That's so corny," Brian said, grinning seductively. "How about you say something that'll make me horny instead."

Justin laughed as he turned for Brian to remove his coat and stuck his ass out to rub against his dick. "You're already horny."

Brian threw Justin's coat to the floor and kissed his ear. "Then do something about it."

Justin looked around as if Brian's mother, whom he'd never even seen a picture of, would suddenly appear. "Here?"

Brian remembered the note he'd found beside a tin of Christmas cookies on the kitchen table. They were for Father Tom Butterfield, thanking him for checking on the house while his mother was away. "Come on." He grabbed Justin's hand and led him through the dining room and around the corner where a set of stairs were.

Justin followed Brian up the atrociously green-carpeted stairway. He got a quick glance at an old family portrait hanging in the hallway before Brian pulled him into what had obviously been his bedroom. Immediately their hurried horny mood shifted as Brian dropped Justin's hand, walked over to the window above the bed. "If you look out here that way," he said, pointing to the right, "you can see Deb's back porch."

Justin fit himself in between Brian and the window and looked where he was pointing. He immediately saw the rainbow wind catchers and wind chimes she had hanging from the gutters. "You're lucky you guys lived so close to one another. I had to walk like six blocks to get to Daph's house."

Brian laughed. "Aww, a whole six blocks. But you're right, I was lucky."

Justin moved away from the window and took the room in. The drapes were green with white stripes that had turned yellow with age. The bedding matched the drapes, as did the throw pillow lying on the seat of a chair in front of an old wooden desk. "It's hard to imagine you growing up in this room."

Brian shrugged. "The décor is definitely best forgotten."

Justin was sure that Brian wanted to forget about many of the things he experienced while under his parent's roof and being subjected to the shitty décor was probably at the bottom of the list. He walked over to the bed and looked inside one of the open cardboard boxes. "You really were a soccer star." He took out two of the trophies to inspect them and saw there were four medals underneath them. "What are the medals for?"

"I was in Student Council all four years of High School, the one with the black and red band is from when I was President my Senior year." Brian smiled, shyly but proudly. "I thought Gus might like to have them."

"I bet he would," Justin agreed. "And these books too." There was an assortment of books all about space.

"I wanted to be an astronaut," Brian explained.

"Doesn't every little boy?" Justin said, laughing.

"You did?"

"Nah, not me. But it's like what 'normal' boys want to be. I always wanted to draw. I used to tell my dad that I wanted to be a 'draw_er_' and he'd just laugh at me. Years later I learned the appropriate term and by that time my father didn't think it was so funny that I wanted to be an artist and not be a business man."

"Good thing you chose to do what you always wanted to do."

"Otherwise, we might not have met."

"I'm sure the fates would have found another way for us to meet. Like you could be looking to fuck and be strolling down Liberty Avenue while I was coming out of Babylon after a shit-poor blowjob with the guys, ready to go home and pass out. But then I'd spot you, standing under a streetlight, looking innocent and sexy, just waiting for the right man to fuck your brains out."

Justin loved Brian so much for coming up with that. It was just as good as if he'd have said something like, "I can't imagine not having you in my life," or "We're meant to be together, nothing could come in the way of our love," or any other overly-used phrase of the kind. Yet, when he thought about it like that, he realized that what Brian had said was even better because it was none of the things people spoke that they usually didn't mean. Brian had thought of another scenario designed by fate and he thought it just for _them_.

The sun outside shone in from the window but Brian noticed that the only thing it lit was Justin. The rest of the room was dark and dreary, leaving Justin looking completely out of place. When Justin took his hand and pulled him closer, Brian saw his skin become a brighter hue. The closer his body got to Justin, the warmer he felt inside and he knew that he didn't belong in that room either, he never had.

"Grab that box for me, would you?" Brian asked, kissing Justin's forehead.

Justin was confused. "Don't you wanna play hanky panky in your old room? It'd be kinda hot."

"It's too cold in here," Brian said, grabbing the two taped up boxes. "Let's go home. It's much hotter fucking you there."

§ § § § §

When they got back to his loft that afternoon, he pulled Justin up to the bathroom the moment they took off their coats and shoes. "Let me get the shower going," he said in between warm, dry kisses he peppered along Justin's face.

Justin was disappointed to have the attention Brian gave him end. He reached for the bottom of his sweater to take it off, but Brian stopped him.

"Wait, take it off slowly." Brian rested his back against the glass shower wall to watch.

Justin blushed, but he knew that his face was already red from the cold outside so he didn't feel the compulsive need to cover it. Brian brought out his shy side and his wild side, all in the span of a few seconds. He was so ready for Brian to fuck him so it was hard for him to be slow about taking his clothes off, but he managed to do so until he reached his underwear, those he just pulled down his legs and stepped out of rapidly.

Brian licked his lips as he appreciated Justin from head to toe and then settled his eyes on the beautiful thick cock bobbing as he walked. "Now me," he instructed, standing straighter with his arms out to the sides.

The bathroom filled with warm steam as Justin tugged Brian's shirt out of his pants. He rubbed his crotch against Brian's leg, straddling it and sending electricity through his cock to the tips of fingers, making it difficult for him to unbutton the shirt.

Brian laughed at Justin's frustration and gave in, helping to undo the last two buttons and pushing him away so he could take it off. He didn't care enough to hang it up, just dropped it beside him and gestured for Justin to continue undressing him. Justin eagerly went to it, pulling his undershirt off and unbuttoning his jeans in a flash. Brian bit his lip to quell the moan that wanted to pour from his mouth when Justin shoved his hand into his briefs, grasped his erection and kneeled to push his pants to his feet.

Justin wrapped his arms around Brian's back and pulled his groin into his face. He sniffed and licked around his cock, felt his pre-come drip onto the hickey on his neck and he could no longer handle it. He needed Brian to fuck him, immediately. He stood up so fast he felt a little light headed but ignored it and pulled open the shower door. He had a thought to pull Brian in by his dick, but thought better of it and grabbed his hand, leading him quickly into the steamy cocoon.

Brian slid inside Justin a few minutes later, pressing him against the glass wall, fitting himself perfectly behind him, right where he belonged. His arms and hands covered Justin and the water sprayed upon them, creating a warm beautiful rain that surrounded them both.

TBC in Chapter 14


	14. Endless December

**Endeavor**

Endless December

"This is so my mom," Justin said, holding out a card to Brian, "or not my mom."

Brian grabbed the card from Justin's hand and read the inside. "Your mother doesn't usually invite you to Christmas dinner?"

"It's not just dinner," Justin clarified, "it's a party at her house."

"And?"

"I called her after I got this in the mail today because the last I heard, I was just going to do whatever it is you're doing for Christmas because they were going to Tucker's sister's for dinner. I mean, I probably would've hung with you either way, but…"

"I get it," Brian said, handing Justin back the card. "So why the party?"

"Kelly, Tucker's sister, she found out a few days ago that her husband, Keith is going to be flying home for leave from Iraq next week. Now they're going to be going to his parent's house for brunch and with him coming home the last thing she needs to be doing is spending all her time preparing for a party."

"Understandable." Brian couldn't guess as to why Justin was in drama princess mode about this.

"Yeah, it is. Except now, my mother has offered to have Christmas at her house. She's having all of Tucker's family come and a few cousins she hasn't seen in a long time are suddenly flying in from California and she wants to show me off."

"So show yourself off then."

"She wants to show off you too. I know, I know, I don't expect that you'd want to go. You already had to do the family thing when you came to her wedding. I don't want to force you to do that again."

Brian turned himself on the sofa so he could properly face Justin."You didn't force me to go to the wedding and you're not going to force me to go to the Christmas party."

Justin pouted. "I get that, but I've got to be there. She wouldn't take no for an answer."

"Well are you going to ask me for an answer or do you not want me to go with you?"

"Yes I want you to go with me but…"

"Then ask me." Brian wasn't thrilled with the prospect of attending a Christmas party, especially because he'd already attended Lindsay's party and that was one party too many as it was. However, Justin had gone to Thanksgiving with him and Lindsay's holiday party so it was only fair if he went with him to his mothers.

Justin was surprised that Brian wasn't taking the out he gave him. "Will you go with me?"

"Yes."

"Wait… don't you have other plans at Deb's?"

"No, everyone's going separate places this Christmas."

Justin straddled Brian's lap and carded his hands through his hair. "So you don't mind coming?"

Brian thrust his hips up and palmed Justin's ass with his hands. "When do I ever mind coming with you?"

§ § § § §

"It was stupid of me to say yes."

"Why was saying yes to your son spending Christmas with you stupid?" Justin asked. He stood behind Brian's office chair, rubbing his hands along Brian's back and shoulders, giving him a mid-day massage.

"Cause now he's all gung-ho about it and he's told me that he knows that Santa will find him no matter where he sleeps on Christmas Eve."

"Which he will," Justin agreed. "You assured him of that, right?"

"Of course," Brian huffed. "Right after I did, I realized that Santa may not have to come down a chimney, that Santa Clause movie made that myth defunct, but there's got to be a place for Santa to put his presents and I don't even have a tree!"

Justin stopped the massage and put his face on Brian's shoulder. "But I do."

Brian looked at him. "You do? Since when?"

"Since yesterday. After you left, I pulled my Christmas stuff out of my storage locker in the basement. It's only a plastic six foot tree with some generic ornaments, but I think it'd be an okay place for Gus' presents… and ours."

Brian spun his chair around, practically pinning Justin against the wall behind his desk. "You wouldn't mind having us spend the night on Christmas Eve and doing all the Christmas morning stuff?" Brian suppressed a groan at the thought.

Justin shrugged. "Course' not. It'll be fun."

"I hope you'll still think so by the time we drop him of after your Mom's party."

"I've spent time with him before; remember I used to babysit for him and Jenny. Having Gus alone will be a breeze."

Brian pulled Justin onto him so he'd sit across his knees. "And what does my little elf want from Santa this year?" He ran his hand down Justin's chest and rested it over his crotch.

Justin moved around, awakening Brian's cock. "Aren't you gonna ask if I've been naughty or nice?"

"Oh I know you've been an equal amount of both." He kissed and licked Justin's ear before whispering into it. "So what does Justin want for Christmas?"

Justin refrained from spouting any cheesy line about how he had everything he wanted. "Right now, I want you to fuck me."

Brian stopped the game as a new problem came into his mind. "Where will Gus sleep?" he asked. "Shit. Neither one of our places is set up for that."

"Well, Gus can sleep in my bed," Justin reasoned. "We've both slept on the pullout enough times to know it's comfortable. The bathroom's in the bedroom so I'm sure that if we told him not to come out once he went to bed, he'd probably listen. I always obeyed the rules when it got close to Christmas. I didn't want Santa to give me switches or take away my presents."

"I guess that could work," Brian said, relaxing. "Gus is a pretty deep sleeper too and at least you've got doors and walls in your apartment."

"That I do," Justin laughed.

Brian kissed Justin's mouth and whispered against it, "So you didn't answer me. What do you want for Christmas little boy?"

Justin moaned as Brian stroked him. "I want my boss to stop making me want to beg him to fuck me when we have a pitch to make in five minutes."

Brian laughed devilishly. "I don't think you'll be getting that for Christmas, so you'd better think of something else."

§ § § § §

After popping the wine cork, Justin decided that getting glasses down from the cabinet was too much of an effort. He made his way down the hall and stopped before getting to the doorway of the dining room. "Are you done yet?" he whispered, cautious of the hallways echo. The last thing he wanted to do was wake Gus up when he and Brian had finally finished wrapping his gifts.

"Just a second," Brian called back, just as quietly. He folded the snowflake-printed paper into a triangle over the end of the box, pulled it over the bottom and secured it with a piece of tape. After flipping the box over, he grabbed two blue bows, put tape on the bottom of them and placed them in the corners of the top of the box.

Justin impatiently whined, "Now?'

"Just hold the fuck on," Brian bitched.

"Fiiine." Justin took a big swig of wine and leaned against the wall, wondering how much longer it would take Brian to wrap his gift. He'd been in the kitchen at least ten minutes boxing up the Christmas cookies he'd made with Gus.

Brian placed the envelope for Justin in the center of the box, securing it under white ribbon. He hated wrapping presents, he'd been doing it most of the night alongside Justin, but Brian figured that if he was going to subject him to the task than he'd make each gift look perfect. "All done."

Justin entered the dining room and draped his arms over Brian's shoulders from behind. "You did a great job, Brian." He refrained from commenting about how Brian had wrapped seven gifts in the time that it took himself to wrap a dozen, and box up four dozen cookies.

Brian tipped his head to the side, placed his mouth around the wine bottle, and allowed Justin to tip it back so he could have a drink. The moment he took his mouth away, he placed it against Justin's and explored his mouth with his tongue. "Mmm.."

Justin placed the wine on the table, stood up and tugged on Brian's arm. "You know, there is citric acid in wine."

"Well not enough to fuck up the taste of your come." Brian followed Justin over to the sofa bed and crawled between his legs. "Quit trying to find ways to prove the Mountain Dew thing wrong."

"I'm not," Justin protested, flipping Brian onto his back. He grabbed his arms and pinned them above his head. "It's my turn, tonight."

"Ho, ho, ho," Brian said mockingly. "Go on little elf, show Santa what a big candy cane you have in your tights."

Justin giggled and dropped his head against Brian's chest. "That isn't kinky. It's weird."

§ § § § §

"Justin, your mom said you work at an advertising agency," Laura prompted.

Justin turned his attention to his mother's cousin and nodded. "Yes, I work at Exhibition as the Art Director."

"That's the same company you own, right Brian?" Gregory, Laura's husband asked.

"One in the same," Brian replied.

Kelly gasped, "So that's how you two met?"

Justin wanted to die. If another person asked how he and Brian got together and that yes, in fact they worked together, he was going to scream. "Uhuh."

"You're awfully young to have a job like that at such a prestigious company," Gregory commented.

"Justin is well educated," Jennifer spoke proudly. "Brian would've been an idiot not to hire him."

"He's also extremely talented in many ways." Brian slipped his hand beneath the table and rubbed the tension from Justin's leg.

"So when did you two meet?" Laura persisted with her interrogation.

"I hired Justin about a year ago," Brian started.

"But we only just became a couple this month," Justin clarified.

"Does anyone here want to talk about anything other than my brother?" Molly asked.

Tucker laughed. "So subtle Molly, why don't you tell everyone what your favorite gift was?" he suggested.

Molly beamed at Tucker, happy that she was now the center of attention. "That's easy. Brian and Justin got me a bright orange laptop."

"Orange is her favorite color," Jennifer filled in.

"I got a laptop too, but mine's from Santa," Gus piped in. "Mine's blue. But that's not my favorite present."

"It isn't?" Brian asked.

"Nope." Gus looked around at all the adults sitting at the long table. "It's all the space books my dad had when he was a little boy. He gave them all to me!"

Justin watched the shocked the expression cross Brian's face and squeezed his hand under the table. Brian had been so worried that Gus was only being polite about liking the books when he'd opened them that morning.

§ § § § §

Brian closed the door to jeep and looked beside him at Justin who had fallen asleep in the time that it'd taken him to bring Gus into Lindsay and Melanie's house. It had been one long day and he was ready to get home. Only, when he thought of going home, both his loft and Justin's apartment appealed to him equally.

Justin awoke as Brian backed out of the driveway and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. "Sorry, guess I'm tired."

Brian glanced at Justin and smiled at him. "You can go back to sleep."

Justin cleared his throat. "It's okay, if I sleep now I won't be able to sleep when we get home."

"Are you going to fall asleep while I fuck you?" Brian asked.

Justin grunted. "I only did that once. You're never going to let me live that down, are you?"

"No, I'm not." Brian smirked. "So, answer the question."

Justin let out a long yawn.

Brian watched Justin's mouth open wide and wider, it was totally distracting while driving. Especially because he thought about sticking in his dick inside of it and that made him think about a thousand other talents Justin performed with his mouth.

Justin turned his body to curl against Brian's arm and whispered, "You can fuck my mouth when we get home."

Brian grinned. "I know that I should find it completely lame that you can read my mind, but I for some reason, I don't."

Justin's breath warmed Brian's cool skin as he laughed softly against his neck. "You're so weird."

Brian was enjoying Justin's warm body pressed against his and told himself that what they were doing wasn't cuddling. He liked Justin's weight beside him; liked hearing his soft breathing near his ear as he made his way through the quiet streets toward Justin's apartment. He figured that since it was still Christmas, Justin would probably want to go back to his place where he could be surrounded by all the decorations he'd spent hours putting up. As he pulled into the parking garage Justin's cell phone singing ended the peaceful silence.

Justin groaned and moaned as he sat up and tried to dig his phone from his pocket. He looked over at Brian, sure that the man would be glaring about the chosen ring-tone song and was correct to see he was. "It's Christmas. I wanted a Christmas song," he defended.

"Whatever," Brian huffed.

Justin flipped open the phone and put it on speaker. "Merry Christmas, Daph."

"Merry Christmas. Hey… am I on speaker?"

"Yeah, I'm in Brian's jeep. Brian say…"

Brian glared. "Merry Christmas, Daphne," he sing-songed.

"Merry Christmas, Brian"

"So what's up?" Justin asked. "We still on for tomorrow night?"

"Definitely. Steven and I were wondering if you wanted to get dinner with us somewhere before we go to Babylon."

Justin looked at Brian. "What do you think?"

"Oh, a double-date," he joked. "I can't wait!"

Daphne laughed. "Right, well neither can I."

"Where were you thinking we go?" Justin asked.

"Well I was going to call and make reservations for Bravo Franco. Is that okay with you two? That is, if I can get us in around eight. Otherwise I'll try another Italian restaurant."

"Sounds good," Justin said.

"Wait," Brian grabbed the phone from Justin and turned the speaker off. "I've brought clients there many times. If they say they don't have anything available, tell them that it's for Exhibition, give them my name and they _will_ miraculously have a table for you."

Justin loved when Brian was an asshole and took charge the way he was doing at that moment. He'd never tell him that, he was the one who had to keep Brian's ego in check, but boy oh boy did it make him hard. After Brian said goodbye for the both of them and hung up the phone, Justin made a point of squeezing his crotch. "I think I'm completely away now."

Brian shut the car off and kissed Justin roughly. "Well, I'm still fucking your mouth the moment we're upstairs."

"Only if you promise to fuck my ass afterward."

Brian rested his forehead against Justin's and growled seductively, "I promise."

§ § § § §

"He doesn't dance like a straight guy," Justin commented in Brian's ear.

Brian glanced at Daphne and Steven dancing and laughed. "Yeah, he does."

"Oh, right his style resembles yours. That is where I'm getting confused."

Brian squeezed Justin's ass, bringing their bodies closer and grinded their crotches together, "Really? Maybe you'd rather go rub against him?"

Justin shook his head. "I'll pass. I guess I was wrong."

Brian smirked. "I guess…" he trailed off, his words failing him as his eyes fell on the two new arrivals.

"See someone you like?" Justin asked, licking a bead of sweat from Brian's chin.

"Eric and Sacha are here," Brian said, looking back at Justin before the two men caught him staring.

Justin paled for a moment and refrained from turning around to look. "They're together?"

"What? You care?" Brian asked.

"Not in the way you think I do," Justin assured. "I want to see Eric happy."

Brian nodded. "Then turn around and see for yourself." He turned Justin himself and moved him so they were chest to back. "I knew Sacha had a thing for him," he whispered in Justin's ear.

Eric and Sacha spotted Justin and Brian and immediately looked away.

Daphne had also noticed the two men and danced closer to Brian and Justin. "Do you mind if I say hi to him?" she asked.

Justin shrugged non-committally. Sure, Daphne hadn't always thought he and Eric were right for one another, but they had been friends, good friends before Daphne had moved to Philadelphia.

"I take it that's Sacha?" Daphne asked Justin.

"With your ex?" Steven asked Justin.

"Yes, with my ex," Justin groaned. "I have no idea what he was thinking coming here. He never wanted to come here when we were together."

"You did bring him that one time," Brian, reminded him.

"Obviously he's come to show off," Justin snipped.

"Would you like me to kick him out, Dawson?" Brian joked.

"Of course not!" Justin shot back. "I'm with you now, Eric is the past."

Brian kissed Justin's ear. "Good, now stop acting like a princess and go with Daphne to say hi."

"What?" Justin gasped.

"Just go," Brian urged pushing him toward Daphne. "Make nice."

Justin took Daphne's hand. "Come on, Brian wants me to go with you to say hi."

The moment Daphne and Justin disappeared into the crowd of dancers a muscular man who'd been cruising Steven all night immediately took his chance. "You want to go to the backroom?" he asked, rubbing the small of Steven's back.

Steven stepped away from the man and shook his head. "I'm with him," he said, pointing to Brian.

Brian laughed aloud and grabbed Steven's arm. "In that case, I'll buy you a beer."

§ § § § §

Justin was so completely and totally NOT jealous. He really wasn't. In total honesty here, he wasn't in denial like he had been before, the truth was, he wasn't jealous of Sacha like he had been when he was with Eric.

At first, he and Eric were understandably uncomfortable and had an awkward conversation that went something like this: "Hey how are you?" "I'm fine." "That's good." "What are you doing here?" "Sacha wanted to see what all the fuss was about." Then Sacha and Daphne saved them and they began catching up.

Justin sort of watched from the side-lines, inputting small words that really did nothing to carry their conversation further. He had learned that Sacha and Eric had 'officially' gotten together a few days after he and Eric had broken up. Eric didn't want to waste any more time because he was now into the whole 'live for today' mentality, even though Justin thought that completely went against 'living green for a cleaner tomorrow' mentality he also still obviously had.

Justin had allowed the music that was playing to drift into his ears and only half-listened to the conversation Eric, Sacha and Daphne were having about some crazy plant that was attacking Disney World. He wondered how in the fuck he and Eric had lasted as long as they had. They had absolutely nothing in common. He tried to think if they ever had any shared interest that was worthy of remembering besides sex but couldn't pinpoint a thing.

He looked around Babylon and saw Brian and Steven were at the bar, drinking and having a conversation that had them both laughing. He was sure that if he were standing over there he'd probably be laughing and having a hell of a lot more fun.

"Eric, sing Daphne some of the song you came up," Sacha encouraged.

Eric's cheeks blushed from embarrassment. "No way, Daphne doesn't want to hear me sing."

"Oh come on," Daphne said, "sure I do. I know you can sing. I've heard you do Karaoke like a million times."

"Fine, fine." Eric took a deep breath and began singing, "Kudzu, suffocating Kudzu. If we don't figure out a solu…tion it's going to… turn our backyards into a zoo! Kudzu. It's up to you and me. We have to…stop the Kudzu. From the Florida Keys to the Louisiana bayou… it's attacking our native plants and trees… it's Kudzu. We've got to… got to stop the Kudzu."

"That's fucking hilarious!"

"Well it's going to be a serious ecomic-musical," Eric explained. "I think we can reach more people if we make the learning entertaining and something they'll remember."

"So Kudzu is your latest cause?" Daphne asked.

Eric nodded. "Sacha turned me on to it."

And that's when Justin broke into the conversation. "Hey, I'm going to get a beer, Daph." He smiled at Sacha and then Eric, "I'll see you guys later. Good luck with the musical Eric."

"Thanks," Eric replied, reaching out to hug Justin.

Justin hugged Eric back, feeling a little giggly as he pulled away and saw Sacha giving him a hard glare. He smiled triumphantly and walked back through the crowd toward Brian. Brian and Steven were laughing about something else as he got to the bar. "What's so funny?" Justin asked, grabbing Brian's beer and guzzling it.

"I was just telling Steven about your Little Mister classes," Brian teased.

TBC in Chapter 15/Epilogue


	15. Epilogue

**Endeavor**

Epilogue

_"Thou art to me a delicious torment." - Ralph Waldo Emerson _

**6 Months Later**

Brian forced Justin face down onto the mattress and jumped on top of him.

"Brian!" Justin shrieked. "What are you doing?" He struggled underneath the taller man, but Brian had since grabbed his arms and had him effectively pinned.

Brian thrust his crotch against Justin's ass. "I'm humping you, what do you think I'm doing?"

"Are you crazy?" Justin gasped.

Brian pounded harder against Justin's ass and at a quicker pace. "We have to test it out before we buy it."

"Are you waiting for the springs to start squeaking?" A male voice asked from behind Brian.

Brian had never moved so fast in his life. He rolled off Justin and turned to face the salesman. The tag clipped to the pocket of the man's hideous plaid shirt read, 'Hello my name is Melvin'. "Yes, Melvin," Brian replied smoothly. "We have to make sure we don't wake neighbors."

"We don't _have_ neighbors," Justin groaned. He hid his red face in his hands as he slid off the mattress and stood beside Brian. He wanted to die, right that second and he wanted to take Brian with him. Brian was going to pay. He was _so_ going to pay.

Melvin gave both men an amused look. He'd seen a lot worse in his job, such as last week when a man and woman had undressed down to their underwear. He'd had to call the cops on them and lose any potential commission he would have earned. The blond before him was embarrassed enough so he chose not to address their 'testing'. He could tell the older, taller man dressed in an Armani suit had money and he wasn't about to lose a sale. "This mattress doesn't have springs. It's the 'Natura Organic Latex' model."

"Do you have anything else like it?" Justin asked, looking around the showroom and happy to see they were the only customers there.

Brian gave Justin an odd look. "What's wrong with this one? You looked good on it."

Justin kicked Brian's leg and finally met the salesman's eyes. "My ex-boyfriend had the exact same mattress."

Brian laughed, "Of course he did."

"Would you still like a latex foam mattress?" Melvin asked.

"Latex is best," Brian said, bumping his hip into Justin. "Stop glaring at me," he whispered into his ear.

Melvin wasn't gay but he couldn't help but find the men before him attractive. They had sexual chemistry even when they weren't simulating sex. "All right, follow me over to the Simmons area." He led them over to the next set of mattresses.

Justin ran his hand over the mattress while giving Brian a silent warning with his eyes. "This one isn't nearly as soft as the other one."

"You're right," Melvin said. "Its comfort level is only 4 but I wanted to show you the lowest level of comfort mattress that we carry so you could compare it to the highest."

Brian tilted his nose in the air, refusing to go near the mattress Justin stood against. His boyfriend didn't have to worry; he wasn't going to throw him on that thing. "Why are you showing us this again?"

Justin rolled his eyes. "Melvin, please just show us the best one. It'll save us both a lot of time."

"Of course." Melvin motioned Brian and Justin to follow him and stopped in front of the most expensive mattress the store carried. "This is our Simmons Natural Care Elite Gannett Peak TruSoft Pillowtop, it has a comfort level of 8 and a 20 year warranty."

Justin crossed his arms over his chest and asked. "If I sit on this are you going to molest me?"

Brian sighed, "I guess not. Have at it."

Justin jumped onto his hands and knees on the mattress and looked at Brian over his shoulder while wiggling his ass. "It's perfect."

Brian turned around and fell backwards. "Damn, I could fall asleep right here."

Justin laughed and kissed Brian's nose. "Hopefully you won't be saying that when we get it home."

"So this is the one?" Brian asked.

"This is the one." Justin sensually kissed Brian's lips before hopping off the mattress and addressing Melvin, "Do you have a California King in house so it can be delivered today?"

Melvin shook his head. "Those have to be specially ordered from the factory."

Brian grumbled his disappointment as he stood up from the bed. "How long is that going to take?"

"Two days?" Melvin hoped this wouldn't loose him the sale. He had the potential to make a substantial commission. "If you'll buy from us today I'll pay the delivery fee myself." He was sure he could get one of the guys to do it as a favor.

"That's fine," Justin said, before Brian could say no. "Our furniture won't be delivered for the bedroom until tomorrow anyway so that's fine."

Brian shook his head at Justin. "Care to tell me what we're going to be sleeping on tonight? The whole reason we went shopping for a mattress today is because you felt it necessary to give away our other ones today."

"Ben could only borrow his friend's truck today," Justin reminded him. "We can stay in a hotel for the night." Justin raised his eyebrows suggestively. "Maybe get a massage."

"All right," Brian agreed and turned back to Melvin. "We've got to pick out a mattress for my son too."

Melvin did his best to hide his shock and stuttered, "This… model is great for children too."

"And great for your commission no doubt," Brian said pointedly.

"That too," Melvin admitted.

§ § § § §

When Brian and Justin first decided to get a place together, they only thought of buying an apartment. That commitment was as much as either man could handle. Jennifer searched for three months to find them the right apartment but nothing ever felt like home or had enough space for Brian. They realized that they had to look for a house. Within two weeks, they found and closed on a home not too far from Exhibition.

The style of the home on the outside didn't appeal to Brian, but Justin loved it. It had a large yard, a covered patio and pool in the back and the previous owners had converted one side of the two-car garage into a wood shop. It had great light and Justin knew that he had to use it as his studio the moment he saw it. The rooms of the house were large and spacious. There were three bedrooms, a master suite for them, a room for Gus and a room for their home office. There were however problems with the flooring. It was done in nice tile and real, natural wood, but it was all mismatched. Besides the flooring, Brian hated the kitchen. It was beautiful by nearly anyone else's view, but Brian hated it. Justin liked it the way it was, but Brian had his sites set on an entire remodel. When Brian contacted the same interior designer he'd used for the loft, the man suggested that he live in the house for at least three months before doing any major changes. By that time, Justin was confident that he'd convince Brian that he rarely used the kitchen so it didn't matter that it didn't flow with the rest of the home.

Justin could hardly believe that he and Brian had bought a house together. The day that they signed the papers, he almost felt like he was getting married. It was that big of a commitment. He doubted that would ever happen, but according to Brian's friends, the idea of him living with someone was shocking enough. They Justin didn't get it though, he and Brian weren't ready to be monogamous and he wasn't sure they ever would be ready. Living together would just mean sharing a little more than they already did, which before had been quite a lot. Finding somewhere for them to live together had seemed more practical than anything.

Ted had teased Justin about getting sick of Brian when he'd caught he and Brian arguing in his office about three days after they were 'officially' moved in together. Justin couldn't believe it to be possible. Who could get sick of getting the best fuck of your life every single day, multiple times a day? Who could get tired of lunchtime office quickies, sunrise blowjobs and anytime shower fucks? Certainly not him. Ted had no idea why he and Brian had been arguing. Justin had almost told him just to spite him, but he kept it to himself. No one needed to know that Brian was pissed that he lost 'rock, paper, scissors' and was indeed going to be on bottom for the rest of the day. Sometimes, Brian bet him about stupid stuff, but 'rock, paper, scissors' was serious business as far as Justin was concerned. There was no such thing as a two fingered paper, you were either scissors or you were paper. And so, his rock had beaten Brian's scissors.

God had Justin fucked Brian hard that night. It was only a couple days after the whole 'mattress store incident' so he naturally took out his qualms on Brian's tight ass. He'd put a cock ring on Brian and fucked himself to two orgasms over the course of three hours before he finally let Brian come. Only after he made Brian a mass of quivering, pleading, begging flesh that could barely utter his name. Justin often wondered why Brian did such silly things like hump in a public store or play 'rock, paper, scissors' when he knew that a time would come soon enough that Justin would make him pay with a very hard thick cock up Brian's tiny asshole. Perhaps that was why Brian did it.

Brian wrapped his arms around Justin and nibbled on his neck. "Didn't you hear Mikey?"

Justin turned in Brian's arms and rubbed his body against him. "Michael was asking me something?"

"He asked where the bathroom was." Brian looked at Justin with a knowing expression. "Were you imagining me fucking you on this table?"

Justin laughed. "You wish. This thing couldn't sustain the blows you'd give it." He turned back around and began to clean up the dishes.

Brian pinched Justin's ass. "Yet amazingly, your ass can."

"It's a thing of wonder," Justin said seriously. "I've told you this before."

"It's kind of fucked up that you know how great your ass is. So now that I've seen you suck your own cock, you don't suppose you could eat your own ass, could you?"

Justin stared at Brian for a moment to see if he was joking but Brian seemed serious. "Do you think I'm a fucking contortionist?"

Brian took the stack of plates from Justin's hands and put them back on the table. "The fact that you can suck your own cock has got to be on some level of contortionism." He pulled Justin against him and ground his pelvis into his stomach. "Stop cleaning up and come drink some wine and make out with me."

"We have guests," Justin chastised.

"What better way to make them leave?" Brian joked, sliding his tongue against Justin's lips while he talked. "Deb, your family and Gus and Jenny already went home with munchers so you don't have to worry about that."

"You're suggesting that we go make out so that our friends will leave?"

"That's what I said, isn't it?" Brian whispered, licking the shell of Justin's ear. "Come on, I haven't fucked you in that chair you call a chaise."

Justin pushed Brian away. "Shut up. You love our living room."

"Love is not the word I'd use." Brian grabbed one of the wineglasses from the table and gulped the rest of the contents.

Justin pulled Brian's mouth to his own and licked away the remnants of wine. "Are you underestimating how hot we are together?" He pointed to the glass windows that showed their reflections. "If we go in there and start making out, they'll want to stay and watch. Besides, Daphne and Steven are in there too. I don't want to make Steven uncomfortable, Daph would kill me."

"I have it on good authority that Daphne is half-drunk on wine and just asked Steven if he wanted to leave soon."

Justin frowned. "She hates our house?"

Brian snorted. "No, she just wants to go get fucked."

"Brian, eww."

Brian smiled devilishly. "Come on. Once they leave let's see how far we have to go before everyone else leaves."

Justin shook his head. "You do realize that your dick might be in my ass and we'll be coming all over each other by the time that happens." He put his hands on his hips and tapped his foot on the ground. "I am **not** turning our housewarming party into a fucking orgy."

Brian grabbed Justin's hand and the new bottle of wine he'd gone to get out of the kitchen. "You're no fun."

"I'll remember you said that the next time you want to play 'I never'," Justin warned.

Brian pulled Justin into the hallway and gave him an evil smirk. "That would be the perfect party game wouldn't it? And I know just the question to ask."

"You wouldn't!" Justin gasped as practically tripped trying to keep up with Brian. "Don't you dare," he hissed when they reached the living room.

"Brian, I can't believe you let Justin paint your guest bathroom like that!" Michael said in astonishment.

"Gus wanted it like that," Justin defended. "Brian couldn't say no to him."

Brian had already heard Ted make fun of it for an hour after he'd seen it yesterday afternoon. Justin had been pissed that Brian hadn't explained that Justin had painted it for Gus. He knew that he had no one to blame but himself for caving to Gus' desires of a Rainbow bathroom. Originally, he'd figured that he never would use it so it didn't bother him. He'd have to start directing his guests to the master bathroom. "Like you didn't paint Jenny an actual fucking rainbow on her ceiling at your house?" he reminded.

"I think it's gorgeous," Emmett said.

"Thanks, Em," Justin replied, smiling now.

"I didn't say I didn't like it," Michael added. "It was unexpected."

Ted kept his mouth shut and looked away from both Brian and Justin.

Brian changed the subject. "So, who wants to play 'I never'?" he asked.

"I think that's our cue to leave." Daphne stood from Steven's lap and wobbled a little bit while looking down at her boyfriend. "Come on, your ears are too innocent for this game."

Brian slapped Justin's ass as hard as he could. "Sharing our secrets again, Sunshine?"

Justin looked pitiful. "That was before you asked me not to."

"What's 'I never' ?" Ted asked.

"I love party games," Emmett said while clapping.

Justin grumbled, "There will be no making out during this game."

Brian didn't believe him for a moment.

§ § § § §

Brian didn't ever tell anyone that Justin could suck his own dick. That was a pleasure he indulged in watching and keeping to himself, but he loved fucking with Justin about it whenever the chance arose. Justin never could eat his own ass, no matter how much Brian encouraged him to try. He just wasn't _that_ flexible and though he didn't mind tasting himself on Brian's tongue, the thought wasn't as appealing as it was to Brian. Brian never remodeled the kitchen because Justin had warned him that he'd stop cooking in it if he did and the lure of Justin's amazing food won out in the end. Brian often made bets Justin cashed in by using Brian's ass and Brian liked it that way.

They took Gus to Kennywood Amusement Park whenever the weather was nice and he spent the night more often than he had before, happy to have his own room at his Dad's house. Justin practiced soccer with Gus in their back yard, but he still sucked, even though he'd swear that he'd gotten a lot better.

Exhibition became an even bigger success with the expansion of the company but with that success also came more apt employees and Justin was able to relegate some of his responsibilities onto other employees. He and Brian made a ton of money and went on vacations all around the world. Justin also negotiated enough free time to work in his art studio at home and paint masterpieces that sold at a relatively good rate and pace. Lindsay was always telling him he should quit Exhibition and only focus on his art, but she just didn't understand that the work he did at Exhibition was art to him too. He wasn't interested in becoming the next Andy Warhol, but if that happened to fall in his lap, he wouldn't mind it. He was happy at Exhibition and he loved working with Brian, more than he loved working alone in his studio painting pictures he'd never see once they sold.

Unless one of them was out of town, they never went a day without fucking each other. Sometimes they brought others in on the mix, sometimes they stayed in for a whole weekend with no one to fuck or talk to but each other, and sometimes they had orgies in the V.I.P. room at Babylon.

§ § § § §

After a while, things started to change. Brian stopped fucking other guys a long time before he realized that Justin had too. After five years together, when Brian asked Justin to sign partnership papers on Christmas Eve, he wasn't trying to romanticize the union. It was purely coincidence that the day after Christmas allowed for the exact amount of time they'd need to have the papers notarized and filed before the tax year was complete. They could legally file taxes jointly and that meant more money for them both.

If they celebrated their union having raw sex at the stroke of midnight on New Year's Day, well that was coincidental holiday romance too.

It was. Seriously.

They didn't really care if no one believed it or not because they didn't actually completely believe it.

The End   
**Oh and scroll down and there are some images to see what Brian and Justin's rooms of their home look like. I wanted to make another image map but I couldn't figure it out. Maybe I'll figure it out later.**  
For real end this time. No sequel or anything. I'm actually quite happy with this.) I will have pdfs and word docs up in a few days, this story will be included into them if you want to read it in one go.

  
[ ](http://s884.photobucket.com/albums/ac46/galeandrandystoryimages/Endeavor/?action=view&current=modern-kitchen.jpg)

[ ](http://s884.photobucket.com/albums/ac46/galeandrandystoryimages/Endeavor/?action=view&current=Lodge_main_new.jpg)

[ ](http://s884.photobucket.com/albums/ac46/galeandrandystoryimages/Endeavor/?action=view&current=GusRoomEndeavor.jpg)

[ ](http://s884.photobucket.com/albums/ac46/galeandrandystoryimages/Endeavor/?action=view&current=Gusbathroom.jpg)

[ ](http://s884.photobucket.com/albums/ac46/galeandrandystoryimages/Endeavor/?action=view&current=CALIO-contemporary-living-room-design.jpg)

[ ](http://s884.photobucket.com/albums/ac46/galeandrandystoryimages/Endeavor/?action=view&current=BJsbedroom.jpg)

[ ](http://s884.photobucket.com/albums/ac46/galeandrandystoryimages/Endeavor/?action=view&current=BJDINING.jpg)

[ ](http://s884.photobucket.com/albums/ac46/galeandrandystoryimages/Endeavor/?action=view&current=bathroom.jpg)


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